


Ignite

by WarpingAshes



Series: Fire Burns [1]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Dysfunctional Relationships, M/M, Mech Preg (Transformers), Transformer Sparklings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-23
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:49:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 33,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22368982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WarpingAshes/pseuds/WarpingAshes
Summary: Starscream finds out he's sparked the hard way. Naturally, as things do when Starscream is involved, it only goes downhill from there.
Relationships: Megatron/Starscream
Series: Fire Burns [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1661437
Comments: 157
Kudos: 397





	1. Chapter 1

The first thing Starscream processed wasn’t pain. It was panic. Odd. He normally didn’t react the situations with immediate panic unless he was at the wrong end of Megatron’s fusion cannon. He barely had a moment to understand the panic taking over his processor before the pain hit next. He groaned, shifting slightly and attempting to online his optics. After a moment, they flickered online. The intense light of the sun filled his vision, causing him to hiss and squint. He grumbled to himself, forcing himself into a sitting position. It was about then that his memories came flooding back to him.

There had been a battle. Autobots against Decepticons, some Earth city Starscream couldn’t remember the name of being destroyed, flying, _ the usual _ , then feeling a pain in his wing.  _ Right _ . He’d been shot while he was flying to follow one of Megatron’s  _ oh so important _ orders. The shot had caused him to spiral out of control and hit the ground. It must’ve been enough to trigger a hard reboot of his systems.

His systems had a couple hundred alerts popping up, blocking his vision. He ignored all of them in favor of looking at the damage done with his own optics instead. Looking down, he saw his paint was ruined for starters. One of his legs definitely shouldn’t have been twisting that way-- he’d be lucky if he could even stand on it. He couldn’t feel one of his arms and while that sucked, nothing actually made him flinch until he noticed the damage done to his chest. His cockpit was shattered and the armor surrounding it was in ruins. That panic he’d woken up with returned two fold.

“This can be fixed…” He said in a poor attempt at calming himself. He bit his lower lip and looked back down at his shattered cockpit. ...There was no fixing that. It would have to be completely replaced. He’d suffered bad injuries before, replaced more than a few broken parts, but rationalizing his newest injuries didn’t make the panic go away. And that only made him panic more.

One thought filled his processor:  _ Something is wrong _ . Well, obviously there were many things wrong, but the tightness in his chest-- where his spark is-- that worried him. Had the damage done to his armor damaged his spark casing? His spark itself, even?

The thought alone sent off a thousand alarms in his mind.

If there was something wrong, he wasn’t going to wait around for some Autobot to discover him and finish the job. He immediately commed Skywarp his location with orders to warp to him  _ right now, immediately _ . No, Starscream wasn’t going to sit there and wait to die. He was getting the  _ Hell _ out of there and figuring out what was wrong with his spark.

Lucky for him, Skywarp and Thundercracker appeared just moments later in a flash of purple smoke. Skywarp took one look at him and whistled, clearly amused.

“Damn Screamer, looking good.”

“Shut up!” Starscream shouted. “Warp us back to the Nemesis this instant!”

Thundercracker and Skywarp exchanged an exasperated look.

“Megatron didn’t call for a retreat yet.” Thundercracker said. “He won’t happy if you leave over a few dents.”

“A few dents?!” Starscream repeated, “Look at me! I’m clearly seriously injured, something feels _ wrong _ , I’m not risking my life for some  _ unimportant _ ,  _ unmemorable _ battle over wherever the Pit this place is!”

“It’s Detroit.” Thundercracker informed him, “Starscream the damage is likely all cosmetic--”

“Cosmetic my aft.” The seeker hissed, pulling a face. The bitter expression only lasted a moment before it melted into something like genuine worry. “I want nothing more than to return and find the Autobot who did this to me. But my-- my _ spark _ …”

Starscream hesitated, half hoping his trine wouldn’t make him explain just how bad his entire chest region felt. He didn’t want to appear vulnerable to them, but if it’s what was needed to get out of this situation and somewhere he could safely assess the damage…

“I think my spark casing is cracked. It feels  _ wrong _ , I can’t focus on anything else, even if I wanted to.” He admitted.

Skywarp glanced at Thundercracker, clearly worried now. This could all be an act to get out of the fight, it wouldn’t be the first time Starscream had over exaggerated an injury, and Thundercracker would be able to see through it if it were an act a lot better than Skywarp. Thundercracker caught Skywarp’s gaze, frowning. He sighed,

“Alright. Skywarp, you know what to do.” The blue seeker murmured.

Skywarp nodded and reached a hand out to Starscream to help him up. Starscream glared at the hand for a long moment, considering his options. Take the hand and seem vulnerable or get up himself and risk falling on his aft. He took the hand in the end, grumbling while Skywarp hoisted him up.

The trio disappeared in a puff of smoke, reappearing deep within the Nemesis.

“Alright, let’s get you to--” Thundercracker began, but was cut off by Starscream violently pulling away from the two of them and nearly doubling over.

“Whoa, you ok?” Skywarp asked, concern clear in his voice.

Starscream clutched at his cockpit, optics wide.

“I think that made it worse!” He cried dramatically.

Thundercracker gently placed a hand on Starscream’s shoulder, expecting to be shaken off but was surprised to find he wasn’t. In fact, it seemed like his touch grounded Starscream ever so slightly. He hadn’t expected to get this far into plan “comfort Starscream” but he wasn’t going to back down now,

“Try to calm down. We’ll get you to Knock Out and he’ll be able to tell you what’s wrong, ok?”

“I know what’s wrong! My spark casing is broken, that’s what! That’s the only explanation, it’s shattered!” Starscream was close to hysterics.

Thundercracker gently eased Starscream to sit down and pried his hands away from his cockpit.

“If it were shattered, I think you’d be in a lot more pain, not this panicked.” Thundercracker tried, “Think about this rationally.”

“I am thinking rationally!” Was shouted, followed quickly by the noise of Starscream’s chest plates triggering back.

“Starscream--”

“Shut up and just--  _ check _ . I need to know how bad it is.”

Thundercracker sighed heavily and nodded. The armor pulled back to reveal Starscream’s glowing spark, perfectly protected, and the completely untouched casing surrounding it. That should have been the end of it, it should have been everything that was needed to write this off as another dramatic outburst of Starscream’s. But there was something else that caught Thundercracker’s attention. He fought to control his expression as he looked, but his silence was cause enough for alarm.

“Starscream…” Thundercracker began slowly, carefully.

Skywarp, growing impatient, leaned over the other mech’s shoulder to catch a look himself. His optics widened immediately.

“Oh slag.”

Starscream’s jaw dropped.

“ _ Oh slag _ ?! Thunder--”

“Starscream,” The blue mech said again, “Your spark casing is fine but there’s another problem. We need to get to Knock Out right now.”

Starscream stared at him for five long, judging seconds. Thundercracker expected him to return to his hysterics, probably start screaming that he was dying or something, but he did not expect the very stern,

“No.”

“Wh- _ excuse me _ ?!”

“No. I’m not moving.” Starscream quickly triggered his chest plates back into position and glared at his trine. “Not until you tell me what you saw.”

The two looked at each other, wordlessly exchanging a “no way in Hell” that Starscream definitely picked up on, but Skywarp and Thundercracker didn’t care. They were not equipped for situations like _ this _ .

“It’s not bad--” Thundercracker tried but was cut off,

“Maybe it’s a little bad--”

“It isn’t bad, it’s just  _ complicated _ , and we don’t want to say the wrong thing, so we’re  _ going _ to Knock Out and he can tell you what’s going on.” Thundercracker said sternly. “This isn’t up for debate.”

“I can’t walk.” Starscream muttered. “So i’m not going.”

Thundercracker rolled his optics.

“I’ll carry you.”

“...Fine.”

The trip to the medbay was painfully silent. Starscream would sigh dramatically and complain that his trine were keeping secrets from him, but one threat from Thundercracker about dropping him made him stop. Once they approached the doors to the medbay, Starscream stiffened in Thundercracker’s hold.

“...Am I going to die?” He asked, voice far too even for the weight of the question.

“No.” Thundercracker said with certainty, “You’re not going to die...I promise.”

Starscream huffed.

“Like I believe you, but fine.”

Skywarp opened the door and in they all went. Knock Out had obviously been commed ahead of time, having already cleared a private berth for Starscream to be sat on. In fact the entire medbay seemed empty.  _ Good _ , Starscream thought, if he was going to get bad news he’d rather no one overhear it and spread rumors.

Once Starscream was settled on the berth, Knock Out turned to him, 

“So aside from the obvious, what seems to be the problem.”

“That’s what I would like to know.” Starscream hissed. “These two are keeping my condition a secret from me!”

Skywarp coughed awkwardly off to the side.

“Well if you saw what we saw--”

“And what exactly did you see?” Knock Out asked, hand on his hip.

“Oh. Y’know.” Skywarp said sheepishly. “Spark shenanigans.”

Knock Out sighed and motioned towards Starscream.

“Open up.”

Starscream, reluctantly, did as told. He wished he had a mirror so he knew what was making everyone look so  _ god damned shocked _ -

“Oh. Well then.” Knock Out’s deep voice cut through his thoughts, tone filled with something Starscream couldn’t quite place “Congratulations, Starscream. You’re sparked.”


	2. Chapter 2

Starscream was stunned into silence. He couldn’t wrap his mind around what Knock Out had said to him. Sparked? That wasn’t possible. There must have been a mistake. They were in the middle of a war, getting sparked  _ was not possible _ . With who the sire was, there was a less than 10% chance of getting sparked as it was but add wartime protocols into that mix? 1% chance with  _ compatible _ frame types. Which he and Megatron did not have.

_ Megatron. _ Starscream couldn’t help but cringe at the knowledge that, if he truly was sparked, Megatron was the sire. No, no he couldn’t be having Megatron’s sparkling. There was no way. It was virtually impossible. This was all an elaborate prank, yes, that was it. But… Knock Out’s expression didn’t indicate any funny business behind the scenes, and Thundercracker and Skywarp looked far too...sad.

Primus, they weren’t lying, were they?

“Forgive me for assuming,” Knock Out began, turning to Skywarp and Thundercracker since Starscream didn’t seem ready to reenter the conversation, “But I thought it was pretty common for trines to have sparklings.”

“It is. Or it was, before the war” Thundercracker said, frowning. “But that’s the thing. It isn’t ours.”

Knock Out looked amused at this information. He hummed, turning back to Starscream.

“Well that changes things…” The medic muttered. “Starscream--”

“There’s clearly been a mistake.” Starscream interrupted. “I can’t be sparked. It isn’t possible.”

“It’s possible, and there’s no mistaking it.” Knock Out insisted, not bothering to try and sound reassuring or gentle with his delivery. “If you don’t believe me, see for yourself.”

He briefly turned to find and pick up a small hand mirror which he then handed to Starscream. Starscream didn’t take it right away. In truth, he was scared of seeing it with his own optics. He wouldn’t be able to deny it after that. But he was more unwilling to allow the others to catch on to his hesitance. _ Frag it _ . He snatched the mirror out of Knock Out’s hand and positioned it so he could see his still exposed spark.

Sure enough, the small ball of light was there, orbiting Starscream’s spark like it wasn’t an unwelcome visitor invading his personal space. He quickly triggered his chest plates back into place, not able to look at it for a moment longer. He sat there for a moment, optics blown wide, clutching the mirror in his hand.

“Oh Primus this is really happening.” He whispered.

“Sure is.” Skywarp said, crossing his arms over his chest like a disappointed parent. “I’d sure love to know  _ how _ though.”

“And you think I don’t want to know the same thing?!” Starscream snapped, “Don’t look at me like that, I didn’t plan for this!”

Starscream made to move off the berth, likely to go start a real fight with Skywarp, but Thundercracker was quicker. He stepped in front of the seeker, gently yet firmly placing his hands on Starscream’s shoulders and keeping him seated.

“He wasn’t trying to say you planned this, Starscream.” The blue seeker began, “But a lot of this isn’t making sense. If it isn’t ours, that means you’ve been--”

“Fragging someone behind our backs?” Skywarp offered, clearly not helping but he didn’t care, “Seeing someone without telling us? Pit, you have to have been bonded to them for this to happen, right? So you did that without telling us too?”

“I’m not  _ seeing  _ anyone and I’m not  _ bonded _ to anyone!” Starscream shouted, “Somehow you’re a part of this trine so you would know if I bonded, idiot!”

“I’m not an idiot--”

“Clearly you are--”

“That’s enough!” Thundercracker cut in, glaring at his two trinemates. “Starscream, yelling isn’t going to change the fact that you’re sparked. Skywarp, accusing Starscream of going behind our backs isn’t helping. Both of you just  _ stop _ .”

Starscream scoffed, looking away from his trinemates. Normally he might push for this fight a bit more, and a part of him really wanted to, but a bigger part of him was just tired. He was already damaged and egging Skywarp on until someone started throwing punches would only make that worse. He’d let Thundercracker diffuse the situation for now, but that didn’t mean he had to be happy about it.

He’d almost forgotten Knock Out was still in the room until the medic let out a small “ahem” to get their attention.

“As fun as it is watching you three fight like a group of rabid turbofoxes, there are some more important things we need to be doing.”

“Like what?” Starscream asked sarcastically, rolling his optics.

“Like figuring out what to do about that nearly fully developed newspark you’ve got.”

Starscream looked at Knock Out like he’d grown an extra head.

“What.” The seeker said dumbly.

“Fully developed?” Thundercracker questioned for Starscream.

“He has about a month before the newspark drops and bonds to the frame.” Knock out said, “Which gives us a month to prepare for that fun process, get Starscream off active duty, tell the sire, tell Megatron--”

“No!” Starscream cut him off, panicked, “No, Megatron can’t know! The sire can’t-- No one can know!”

If Megatron knew, it would be game over. Starscream feared what would happen should he find out. Not only did he feel like the warlord would take his choices on what to do about the sparkling away, he knew it would overcomplicate their already shaky truce.

The “truce” which was only born out of them using interfacing to blow off some steam and get out their hatred of each other in a slightly more productive way than actively trying to kill each other. Megatron learning of the sparkling would surely throw that out the window and it would go back to how it used to be once the sparkling was born-- if Megatron would even wait that long in the first place.

“Starscream?” Thundercracker’s voice pulled him from his thoughts. He realized they must have been trying to get his attention for a while, but found he didn’t care. He was humiliated enough already, his zoning out couldn’t make it worse.

“What do you want?” Starscream groned, tiredly.

“You went quiet… Knock Out said he needs information on the sire.”

Starscream glared at the medic in question.

“I’m not telling the sire.”

“I’m not saying you have to.” Knock Out said, holding his hands up defensively. “But whether you want them involved or not, I do need information about them so I know what we’re dealing with here. The carrying process could be harder than normal, depending on certain things.”

Starscream frowned. The carrying process. How was he supposed to carry this sparkling to term, exactly? Even removing what Megatron would do when he found out, that didn’t change the fact they were in a war. That didn’t change his position as second in command, and that he had enemies. No, the sparkling wouldn’t be safe even if he wanted to have it.

...Did he even want to have it?

“Skywarp, Thundercracker, I’d like a moment alone with my patient.” Knock Out said, tone leaving no room for questioning his request.

“What?” Skywarp sounded stunned. “You can’t ask us to leave!”

“I wasn’t asking, I was telling you to. I even tried to be nice about it, but if you don’t leave right now I’ll have you forcefully removed.” The red mech threatened, wordlessly reminding the seekers that Breakdown was always one comm away. “I’ll comm you when you can come back. Now go.”

Thundercracker had to drag Skywarp out, but they did as told. Once the door slid shut, Knock Out hummed and turned his full attention to Starscream. There was a moment of an oddly comfortable silence between the two before the medic spoke again.

“You don’t have to keep it.”

Starscream closed his optics. Of course he knew that, but hearing it offered to him was a different thing.

“If you want it gone, I can make it happen. Easily. No one but you and your trine will ever know about today and you can move on with your life.” Knock Out began, fidgeting with some tools as he spoke, “Or you can keep it and I’ll make sure the process goes smoothly for you. Sire or no sire.”

“We’re in a war.” Starscream said, as if it explained everything.

“We sure are.” He said in agreement, “And you shouldn’t care about that.”

Starscream gave him a questioning look.

“Forget about the sire, the war, whatever has you so shaken up. You shouldn’t make this decision for anyone but you, or you’ll regret it. Even if you think you made the right choice, if you don’t do it for  _ you _ , you  _ will _ regret it someday.”

“You almost sound like you speak from experience.”

“Not my own, but I’ve seen enough Decepticons make their choices for the wrong reasons.” Knock Out admitted.

Starscream considered his words for a moment. Removing the other factors, what did he want? He’d never exactly had the goal of being a carrier someday. Really, he’d always expected Thundercracker to get sparked first, sentimental fool that he was. And yet...here he was. Sparked and worrying about every possible outcome. For what? The sparkling’s safety? His own? He settled on a mix of the two and found he wasn’t mad about that.

He did care, even if just a little bit, for the newspark. It was part him, after all. Half of the effort to create it had been his. It would take his full effort to carry it. It wouldn’t be easy, but…

“I’m not opposed.” He said finally. “To keeping it.”

“Ok.”

“But that doesn’t change that there are other factors.”

“Are there?” Knock Out asked rhetorically. “If you do this, you aren’t involved with the war anymore. Not for as long as you’re carrying this sparkling and recovering. You said so yourself the sire doesn’t need to know. What else is there?”

“Megatron--”

“Also doesn’t need to know, if that matters so much to you. I can always lie.” The medic said, smirking. “You’ve got some pretty severe injuries, it would be a shame if my official report confirmed your spark casing was severely damaged. Let’s say that it takes about two months to heal if there’s no complications. Oh and as it would happen, you catch a virus after that and it doesn’t go away for a few more months. What a shame, looks like you’re off duty for the perfect amount of time to have the sparkling and recover.”

“That could work…” Starscream said, humming in thought. “Afterwards? When the sparkling is born?”

“If he finds out after that, he can’t do anything about it.” Knock Out shrugged, “But you can say you found it on a mission. If it’s a seeker, you can always say your trine claimed it already.”

Starscream suddenly felt a lot less confident in this plan. It’s true that if his trine found an orphaned seeker, they could technically claim it as their own. But that was the issue. It had to be a seeker for that to work, and…

“It won’t be a seeker.” He admitted, wings drooping to reflect his disappointment in the fact. 

“You’re certain?”

“It’s highly unlikely.” Starscream said.

The medic gave him a curious look.

“What’s the sire’s altmode, anyways?”

“Not important.” Starscream tried deflecting, but Knock Out’s unamused expression urged him to find a better answer. “He’s a grounder.”

“Well it depends on--”

Starscream sighed.

“His coding is dominant. Believe me, I would know. Don’t forget I was a  _ scientist _ before the war. I may not know everything about being a medic specifically but I know enough about our species biological makeup to know what would be dominant and what wouldn’t be.”

“Fair.” Knock Out conceded, “Any other fun details on the sire you feel like sharing, while we’re at it?”

The seeker gave him a threatening look, one that said not to pry. Knock Out never was good at stopping while he was ahead, though.

“I’ll need to know eventually if you really do want to go through with this. There’s only so much I can do in preparation if I’m kept in the dark.”

Rationally, Starscream knew he was right. But he didn’t feel like having this conversation right now. It had been a painfully long day and he still had a lot to think about. If he really was keeping this sparkling, he had to prepare  _ himself _ for this change above all else.

“You’ll get your information some other time.” He said, “Right now I’m getting a processor ache. Have some sympathy for me, I’m sparked.”

Knock Out rolled his optics.

“I’ll call Breakdown to help repair the damage done to your frame, then you can run back to your trine.”

“Lovely.”

“Naturally, you’ll be off duty until the sparkling is born. Official reports will say you’ve had damage done to your spark casing, but since you have  _ actual _ injuries and a developing condition, try to take it easy.”

Back to business, Starscream supposed. He nodded, only half listening as Knock Out spoke to him, running off a list of things he can and can’t do while sparked. He let the medic ramble on as the pair waited for Breakdown.

Choosing to have this sparkling wasn’t the easy way out of this, Starscream realized that much. But that was fine, he realized. He liked a bit of a challenge, and having this sparkling would definitely be a challenge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I struggled so much with this chapter, it's ridiculous. This isn't even the hard stuff yet. Anyways, I hope you enjoy Knock Out and Starscream lacking a braincell. There's much more of that to come.


	3. Chapter 3

Starscream was feeling good about himself after the damage done to his frame was fixed. He lingered in the medbay for a moment, just appreciating the work done to his frame, until Knock Out kicked him out and told him to go talk to his trine. The brief moment of happiness he’d had was shattered, but he’d still managed to walk out of the medbay with his wings held high in confidence.

Even if he wasn’t exactly  _ feeling _ good, he knew he  _ looked  _ good. It was a small win in his book, but a win all the same.

In truth, Starscream wasn’t eager to get back to his trine. Thundercracker and Skywarp hadn’t seemed happy with recent developments, so to speak, and Starscream didn’t feel up to arguing with them about it. Skywarp especially had seemed put off by the sparkling. A petty part of Starscream wondered if they were just jealous, but he knew better than that.

The three had been a trine for a long, long time. Since before the war. They’d been through a lot together and most trines prioritized each other over all else. The thing was...they weren’t like most trines. Starscream didn’t tell them what went on in his personal life, he didn’t talk feelings with them, he insulted them at times… He prioritized himself over them every single time. Skywarp’s frustration had been a long time coming, and rationally, Starscream knew that he was bound to throw a fit eventually.

That didn’t mean he had to be happy that Skywarp had picked now to do so. The one time it really wasn’t Starscream trying to hide a secret or go behind someone’s back was the time Skywarp took it personally.

Starscream sighed. Yeah, he really didn’t want to have this talk with his trine. But he knew he had to. Beyond it being the right thing to do from a trine perspective, it was a good thing for him to have Thundercracker and Skywarp on his side for the duration of the carrying process. Carrying was stressful and carrying while keeping it a secret? It would be a pain. Plus, Starscream would likely need them to further a lie or two in the future to keep Megatron off his back.

That’s all it came down to, or so he told himself. The emotional support they would provide was...an added bonus.

At some point, Starscream had come to a stop. He stood in one of the many halls of the Nemesis, carefully considering the best course of action when he felt optics on him. Once he realized he was being watched, he whipped around to find one of the last bots he wanted to see right then. He didn’t want to deal with Thundercracker and Skywarp, but he wanted to deal with Soundwave even less.

Soundwave meant Megatron and Megatron was at the very top of Starscream’s “avoid at all costs” list. He couldn’t keep the frown off his face if he’d tried. Which he didn’t.

“What do you want?” Starscream asked with a slight edge to his tone.

Soundwave didn’t seem bothered. He never did.

“Megatron: wishes to speak with you.”

“I’m a little busy right now.”

“It is urgent.”

Starscream rolled his optics, placing a hand on his hip.

“I assure you it can wait. Nothing that big oaf says is urgent is ever really that important.”

Soundwave’s unchanging expression somehow conveyed Starscream this wasn’t a battle he could win. The seeker sighed heavily and motioned for Soundwave to lead the way,

“Alright, let’s get this over with.” He muttered. “Let me guess he wants me in the throne room so he can yell at me, call me a fool, dent my wings, and then threaten my position.”

“Negative.” Soundwave said, beginning to walk and simply expecting Starscream to follow.

Starscream’s wings drooped a bit when he noticed Soundwave was not walking in the direction of the throne room, but in the direction of…

“Megatron wishes to speak with you. Privately.”

“Privately,” meant a handful of things to Megatron. Sometimes he would just yell until Starscream looked bored enough to pass on into the well of Allsparks willingly. Sometimes it was a very blunt invitation to less than pure activities. Such activities that had resulted in Starscream being sparked.

Depending on what the result of the battle was and how mad Megatron was at Starscream leaving said battle...well, it could go either way.

“Oh  _ goodie _ .” Starscream huffed, moving to follow Soundwave.

The walk to Megatron’s quarters was uneventful. Soundwave didn’t speak, which left Starscream to slowly drown in the feeling of dread that had been creeping up since Megatron’s name had been mentioned. Starscream wasn’t ready to face him. He didn’t have things planned out enough, he didn’t have Thundercracker and Skywarp securely in his corner. All it would take is one tiny slip, one inconsistency…

He nearly walked into Soundwave when the other mech stopped at the door to Megatron’s quarters. He had just enough time to brace himself before the door slid open.

Megatron was a little battle damaged, but it largely appeared to be cosmetic. A few dents here, scratches there. Nothing too bad. In fact, it was a look that worked on Megatron… 

Starscream wanted to smack himself. Now was not the time to be ogling Megatron.  _ Focus! _

“Soundwave, you are dismissed.” Megatron’s voice broke Starscream from his thoughts. He looked up at the warlord to find his bright red optics glaring at him. Soundwave didn’t hesitate to leave, leaving Starscream to whatever fate Megatron deemed appropriate. “Starscream. In. Now.”

Starscream scoffed, but walked into the room. He tried not to jump at the sound of the door sliding shut behind him. Megatron was clearly unhappy. The seeker guessed the battle didn’t go well. Shame, he really could have used Megatron in a good mood to his advantage. Optimus always had the worst timing with his victories.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t shoot you where you stand.” Megatron growled.

Starscream turned and faced the warlord, looking insulted.

“And  _ why _ would you shoot me?!” He questioned, glaring. “I’ve done nothing wrong!”

“You abandoned your post!” Megatron shouted, making Starscream actually jump this time. Oh he wasn’t just unhappy. He was pissed. “You went silent on the battlefield, only for me to find out you convinced your trine to take you back to the ship without my permission! You weren’t there to command the air force-- everything  _ fell apart _ and we lost the battle, Starscream!”

“It was just an energon mine. There are others.” Starscream said crassly.

He yelped when Megatron raised his fusion cannon.

“You made me look like a fool!” The warlord bellowed. “Now give me a reason not to shoot you!”

_ I’m sparked _ , was pretty high on the list of reasons Starscream nearly blurted out. Despite the words being on the tip of his tongue, he just barely managed to hold them back. He swallowed, staring at the barrel of the cannon. There was a moment of actual fear before he noticed, just barely, that something in Megatron faltered.

Before he could even speak, the cannon was deactivated. Megatron sighed in annoyance, cursing under his breath. He looked vaguely confused, as if he himself didn’t even fully understand why he’d pulled back.

Starscream didn’t understand for a moment either, but then it clicked. Sire protocols. Oh, Megatron didn’t consciously know, but his systems sure caught on that Starscream wasn’t to be injured. It took a ridiculous amount of self control to keep the smirk off his face once he put two and two together.

“Are you going to let me explain myself now?” Starscream asked, just a little smugly.

Megatron grunted in response, clearly frustrated, but it was the best opening Starscream was going to get.

“I was injured during the battle. Knock Out has the documentation of my injuries, which include but are not limited to, I don’t know, my spark casing being severely damaged.”

A good bit of anger left Megatron’s features at the news. Apparently that was an acceptable enough answer, so Starscream didn’t elaborate. Better to keep it simple for now.

“Who did it?” Megatron asked, unexpectedly.

“I don’t know. If I did, I would have sent Skywarp to blast their head off.” Starscream shrugged. He’d had bigger things to worry about than what blasted Autobot had attacked him.

“I would have killed them myself, had I been there.”

Starscream smirked.

“Oh, so you want to talk sweet, do you?”

Megatron scoffed.

“I forget talking of snuffing your enemies sparks out is the way to your array.”

There was an oddly comfortable silence that came over the two of them. This was more in line with how their private talks had been going, and Starscream was almost glad for it. It was nice, almost. A part of Starscream yearned for more of this, but the thought was stomped out as quickly as it formed.

_ More of this _ would not keep the sparkling a secret.

“If all you wanted to do was threaten me with your fusion cannon and yell at me, I think I’ll take my leave now.” Starscream said a little coldly.

Megatron frowned.

“You can stay, I don’t care.” It was a thinly veiled invitation to stay the night, blow off some steam.

“After the day I had, I don’t think so.”

“If you’re playing hard to get again, I’m really not in the mood to-”

“I meant what I said.” Starscream said.

Megatron nodded.

“Fine. You’re excused, then. I don’t expect a report of the battle but I do expect your medical reports.”

“I’ll have Knock Out send them to you.”

“Good.”

Without another word, Starscream left. Not his most gracious exit, but he didn’t want to end up caving to Megatron’s invitation and regretting it later. Self control was not one of his best qualities, after all.

Starscream began making his way back to Thundercracker and Skywarp, but found he was feeling exhausted. He really didn’t want to talk to them now. He forced himself to keep walking though. The sooner he got things cleared up with them, the sooner he could focus on the newspark and just how he was supposed to handle this.

At least if he cleared things up with his trine, he wouldn’t have to deal with it alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now with added Megatron for your drama needs.


	4. Chapter 4

Upon entering his trine’s quarters, Starscream quickly felt like going it alone might have been the better option. Skywarp was not at all pleased to see him and Thundercracker looked about two minutes away from snapping. Starscream had come here to clear things up, but it was becoming very apparent Skywarp didn’t feel like listening. He was looking for a fight and as much as Starscream wanted to give him one, he wasn’t going to fight his trinemate while sparked. He  _ couldn’t _ , really. They both knew that.

“What do you want, Starscream.” Skywarp asked, not bothering to keep the irritation out of his tone.

Under any other circumstances, Starscream would have snapped at him for using such a tone with him, gotten him more riled up until Skywarp threw the first punch so he could walk away largely blameless. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t be happening here. Starscream had come to his trine for one reason and one reason only:

“I’m…” He began, optic twitching ever so slightly. “I’m here to. Clear the air. With you. Both of you.”

Ok, so maybe he sounded like Megatron had his fusion cannon to his back and he was being forced to apologize, but it was the sentiment that counted, right...? Wrong.

Skywarp scoffed, optics narrowing,

“Wow, Screamer, do you really have to sound like it’d kill you to apologize to us?”

“I’m trying! I would like a little bit of credit for the effort at least!”

“I’m not giving you credit for failing to be a nice person. But I can give you credit for things you’re good at.” Skywarp’s expression twisted into something bitter, “Like keeping secrets from us, going behind our backs, not trusting us--”

“That’s enough, Warp.” Thundercracker cut in, sounding incredibly tired. “Starscream, I… appreciate the effort. But maybe now isn’t the right time.”

“If not now, then when?!” Starscream asked, hands on hips. “You can be mad at me all you want, but I need to know if you’re  _ on my side _ here. I’m sparked, I’m going to have a Pit of a time keeping this from Soundwave, Megatron-- everyone!”

“We wouldn’t--” Thundercracker began, but was quickly cut off,

“I don’t know what you would or wouldn’t do!” Starscream said, placing one hand over his chest. Right over where the newspark was. The gesture didn’t go unnoticed by his trine. Thundercracker and Skywarp exchanged a look while Starscream continued ranting, “I came here to say sorry even though I’m tired, Megatron just got done yelling at me, my struts still ache from my  _ actual injuries, _ mind you--”

“Starscream--”

“No, let me finish! If anyone finds out about my newspark, they’ll take it from me! You don’t have to be friendly with me, but I need to know I didn’t trine two  _ treacherous _ idiots who would go behind my back and expose me--”

“Screamer!!” Skywarp finally cut in, “I’m mad at you, yeah, but I’m not gonna put the newspark in any danger. I’m not telling Megatron or Soundwave or whoever the sire is. I’m in your corner whether I like it or not at this point.”

Starscream blinked. Oh. Well. That was good news. He coughed awkwardly, nodding. He realized then he’d held his wings up high and stiff, a sign of intimidation to grounders normally, but to another seeker? They saw right through it and knew it was more like a panicked last stand at whatever was scaring them. He forced his wings to relax, trying to act like he hadn’t been so visibly stressed in the first place.

“Both of us are with you.” Thundercracker said, “We’re not going to go behind your back. Especially not now. You’re one of ours, and so is your newspark. Remember that.”

Starscream normally would have hated Thundercracker’s reassuring tone, but right now he almost welcomed it. He quickly blamed it on the carrier protocols making him more sentimental than usual.

“That’s all I need to hear then.” Starscream said after a moment. “I guess since you’re both still mad, I should take my leave--”

“Hey so since you’re keeping the newspark,” Skywarp said, stepping a bit closer to his trine leader, “And the sire isn’t in the picture… Does this mean we get to help you raise it?”

Thundercracker rolled his optics and shook his head, muttering about how they were ‘supposed to be mad’ but clearly Skywarp had forgotten all about that.

“I…” Starscream began, but actually thought about his response for a moment. Skywarp could barely take care of himself, how was he going to take care of a sparkling? But...he didn’t really have  _ options _ , did he? “I will be the sparkling’s primary caretaker, of course. But I suppose you and Thundercracker would be there to help me should I need it.” He tried to choose his words carefully, and luckily Skywarp didn’t pick up on the whole ‘should I need it’ part.

“TC, did you hear that? We’re gonna have a sparkling!”

“Hey, it’s _ my _ sparkling--”

“And we’re your trine so it’s technically ours too, kinda.” 

Starscream quickly saw this was not a battle he would win. He sighed and let Skywarp live with his delusions. At least  _ someone  _ was excited about this. He turned to Thundercracker while Skywarp got lost in his fantasy world of raising a sparkling.  _ Like Primus would ever let that happen _ , Starscream thought.

“You’re the sparkling’s secondary caretaker. Skywarp is the last resort, do you understand?”

Thundercracker cracked a smile at that.

“Understood.” The blue mech paused for a second. “You know...I was worried you weren’t going to keep it.”

“I did...consider it. Not keeping it. It’s far from practical to go through with this, after all. But I figured why not. This doesn’t happen every day. Not with the war going on.”

“That’s one way to look at it.”

Starscream smirked.

“I’m likely going to be the first to have a sparkling in the past couple million years, you know. I could very well go down in history if this goes well.”

“And there it is.” Thundercracker sighed. “I should have known you were doing this so you could be special.”

The red seeker scoffed,

“I’m special enough without this newspark. I’m a gift to the Decepticon cause and my newspark will be, too.” Starscream’s wings flicked proudly.

Skywarp let out a laugh, earning himself a glare from his trine leader.

“Right, cuz you’re basically carrying the future heir to the Decepticon throne in that spark of yours.” Skywarp said sarcastically, but oh,  _ little did he know. _ “Y’know maybe the sire is lucky he doesn’t have to deal with you while you’re sparked. You’re going to be insufferable.”

Starscream gave him an amused look.

“You realize you’re going to have to deal with me in his place, right?”

That visibly seemed to get the gears turning in Skywarp’s processor until it clicked. Starscream was right. A sparked seeker was expected to be doted on,  _ especially _ by their trine, and  _ especially  _ if the sire was absent. Skywarp’s expression dropped.

“No! Wait, no, I’m still mad at you, remember?!”

“You weren’t mad two minutes ago when you asked to help me raise the newspark.” Starscream said, unamused.

“Yes, I was! I was just...wondering, and stuff.” Skywarp huffed. “I  _ am  _ still mad at you for keeping things from us.”

Starscream sighed. And here he’d thought he’d distracted Skywarp out of his anger… He supposed divulging a little bit of information wouldn’t hurt if it kept Skywarp on his side. There was no way Skywarp would guess that Megatron was the sire, and Thundercracker likely wouldn’t catch on if Starscream chose his words very carefully.

“I tried to tell you before I didn’t do this on purpose. I don’t know what you think I was hiding from you, but it wasn’t anything I thought would be _ important _ .” He said, gently tracing a hand over the spot where the newspark was to emphasize his point.

“So, what, a one night stand got you sparked?” Skywarp asked, arching a brow in disbelief.

“Yes, that is exactly what I’m saying.”

Skywarp didn’t seem to buy it.

“Maybe it wasn’t a one night stand, but it wasn’t anything serious. It was a stress relief, nothing more. I said before that I wasn’t seeing anyone or bonded to anyone and I meant it. I haven’t even _ thought _ of being that serious with anyone.” Starscream said, finding that telling the truth was surprisingly easy in this situation. “This was all just an accident.”

“A happy accident.” Skywarp said with a small smile. “Well… Ok, I believe you.”

_ Well that was easy. _

“Just one thing.” Thundercracker spoke up.

_ Nevermind. _

“You said you and the sire weren’t serious. That’s fine, but don’t you think they at least have the right to know about the newspark?”

Starscream frowned. Knowing who the sire was, the answer was a big fat no. Megatron did not deserve to know. In Starscream’s mind, he didn’t deserve to have anything to do with this newspark. There were many factors, but one big one came to Starscream’s mind.

“Seeing how the sire just recently threatened to shoot me, I would say no.” Starscream muttered bitterly.

He had been expecting Thundercracker to argue more on the sire’s behalf but instead he was met with...silence. He mentally smacked himself. The part of nearly being shot had to have given away who the sire was. Thundercracker had pieced it together-- it was over.

Starscream braced himself and looked at his trine, ready to figure out how to lie his way out of this but he was stunned into silence. Thundercracker didn’t look like he’d pieced any puzzle together at all. Instead he looked...absolutely furious. Next to him, Skywarp didn’t seem any less angry.

“Thunder--”

“I’m sorry the sire threatened to do  _ what _ to you?!” Thundercracker nearly shouted, making Starscream jump.

“He didn’t actually shoot me.” Starscream tried, blinking in shock. This hadn’t been any kind of reaction he’d been expecting. “I’ve been through worse. It wasn’t a big deal--”

“You’re sparked, Starscream! It’s a big deal!”

Starscream connected the dots. It wasn’t unheard of for a seeker’s trine to be just as protective as a sire when one of their own was sparked. Just a little rare, is all. Truly, Starscream hadn’t expected Thundercracker or Skywarp to fall into that though. But this was good, he realized. He’d likely be untouchable during this whole process if they reacted like this to the idea of him being in danger.

He hummed. Now if only he knew how to calm his trine down. As interesting as it would be to set Thundercracker loose on a mission to fight Megatron, that would only cause more problems.

“I’m alright and the newspark is perfectly healthy.” Starscream tried. It seemed to calm Skywarp a bit, but Thundercracker didn’t seem convinced.

“Doesn’t matter. I’ll kill him.”

That seemed to snap Skywarp fully out of his anger. The purple seeker gently placed a hand on Thundercracker’s arm, managing to catch his attention.

“Hey, if Screamer says he’s fine then he’s fine. You don’t need to go that far.”

“But--” Thundercracker at least sounded less certain as he tried to protest.

“I’m sure he appreciates it but I don’t think that’s what he wants right now.”

_ Want  _ and  _ need  _ were two different things, but Starscream didn’t argue. He  _ wanted  _ Megatron’s helm on a spike but he didn’t  _ need  _ that right now. Megatron, unfortunately, needed to be alive and well these next few months so Starscream could have his sparkling in peace. The last thing he needed was for Megatron to kick the bucket and for him to be unable to secure his place as rightful ruler because of this sparkling. Starscream shuddered at the thought.

“I have a list of bots you can kill  _ after _ I have the sparkling, if you’re still feeling up to it.” Starscream said, half sarcastic and half genuine. “The offer will always be on the table.”

Thundercracker sighed, nodding.

“Sorry.” He said, “I just got...I don’t know…”

“You’re...protective. It’s...reassuring.” Starscream said awkwardly, shrugging. “It’s nice to know if something should go wrong--”

“I’ll take care of it.” Thundercracker said quickly. “If something goes wrong or anyone tries something, I’ll take care of it.”

Starscream found he actually believed his words. He nodded stiffly in place of a more sentimental response-- he’d had enough emotional moments for one day. There was only a beat of silence before Skywarp cut in with a loud “awww!”

“Look at us, we’re acting like a real trine.” Skywarp said fondly.

“We  _ are  _ a real trine, imbecile.” Starscream reminded him.

“Yeah but like, we’re caring about each other and talking about our feelings, and you’re sparked and it’s kind of great.”

“I wouldn’t call it great at all--”

“I think this calls for a group hug.” Skywarp said, extending his arms in a very real threat to pull both Thundercracker and Starscream in close for a hug.

“No. No, absolutely not!” Starscream shook his head. “We are not doing a group hug!”

Thundercracker had the barest hint of a smirk on his face.

“C’mon Starscream, it won’t hurt.” He said, “Besides you want us on your side for this, right? Maybe we just need to hug to seal the deal on that.”

Starscream didn’t have time to react before he was dragged into a hug by Skywarp and Thundercracker. _ Against his will _ ; he wanted the records to show that. He grumbled as he was squished against their armor, hissing threats underneath his breath.

“I hate both of you and when this is over, I’m tearing your wings off!”

“I can’t hear you over the sound of us being a normal, loving trine.” Skywarp said, smiling. Thundercracker hummed in agreement. Starscream sighed heavily, glaring up at his trine the best he could from his undignified position sandwiched between the two,

“It’s official. Primus _ hates _ me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Would you believe me if I said Ignite is part of a multi-fic series I'm planning...and that this was only supposed to be 7 chapters long but there's no way I'm going to be able to wrap things up in that amount of time?  
> Things should be picking up though, at least. Soon we will reach the newspark dropping and bonding to the frame! I wonder what frame type it'll be, hmm!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a bit of a notice for this chapter: there are discussions of terminating a newspark and being unable to conceive one. If that's uncomfortable for you, it may be best to skip that chunk of the chapter.

Starscream sat atop the medberth, shifting impatiently as Knock Out completed his, rather invasive, check up on the flier’s systems. Not only was he checking to ensure that Starscream’s injuries from the last battle had healed, he was making sure the newspark was still seemingly healthy. The red medic made a pleased noise and leaned back, taking notes on a datapad. Starscream gave him a curious look.

“Well?” He asked.

“Everything’s healing fine and the newspark is still perfectly healthy.” Knock Out informed him. “It’s bigger than last time, though.”

“What does that mean?” Starscream asked with a bit of worry. Was the newspark size indicative of the sparkling’s future size? Was it a _bad_ sign?

“Honestly, I couldn’t tell you.”

Starscream gave him a look.

“I haven’t read anything that says it's bad, so as far as I can tell the size doesn’t matter or mean anything.” The medic said, “It’s just something to take note of.”

Clearly not pleased, Starscream crossed his arms over his chest and gave the medic an incredibly unamused look.

“I thought you knew what you were doing.”

Knock Out sighed and rolled his optics. He set the datapad down and leaned against one of the many nearby tables stocked with tools.

“In theory, I do.”

“In theory?!”

“I’ve put a lot of research into sparklings in the past. But a lot of specifics were lost when the war...well, put simply, when the war destroyed Cybertron. Sparklings became a thing of the past and as a medic, I had more important things to focus on learning.” Knock Out explained. “There wasn’t a lot of time to dabble in sparkling research between amputations and surgeries.”

“I thought you said you dealt with sparked mechs before.” Starscream grumbled.

Knock Out hummed, picking up a scalpel and twirling it between his long digits,

“I have.” He said carefully. “I _dealt with_ their sparklings, putting it nicely. None of them wanted to keep their sparklings at the time. You could say I’m incredibly talented at leaving no trace they were ever sparked to begin with…”

Starscream frowned.

“But I’m going over what little I _can_ find about sparklings.” Knock Out added quickly, as if to reassure Starscream, “I’m fully capable of delivering a sparkling and I know the signs for when something is wrong. It’s just the small details that may have faded with time.”

“Like the size of a newspark indicating anything about the sparkling itself.” Starscream said almost bitterly. “It better not mean it’s going to be too big. I can only _fit_ so much inside me.”

“If you’d tell me more about the sire I could give you a rough estimate of what to expect size wise, but no. You want to be secretive.” The medic said, rolling his optics. “If I could ask a creator, that would make this all so much easier.”

“Just ask Soundwave about it.”

“I thought you wanted this to be a secret.”

Starscream shrugged.

“Just lie and say you’re trying to get sparked or something. If nothing comes from it, he can’t fault you for it.” Starscream suggested.

Knock Out froze unexpectedly, the scalpel he’d been messing with dropping to the floor. Cursing silently, he bent to pick it up and placed it back on the table with a bit too much force. A bitter expression bloomed across the medic’s features, and he was silent for a beat as he seemed to consider his next words very carefully.

“That wouldn’t _work._ ” He forced out after a moment, “I can’t have a sparkling and Soundwave is _very_ aware of that.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” Knock Out averted his gaze, glaring at a spot on the wall like it had personally wronged him. “Part of the reason Megatron allowed Breakdown and I both on the ship was because he was aware of my...condition.”

“Come again?”

“Conjunxes have a higher chance of creating a sparkling, as I’m sure you know. Even with wartime protocols, there’s a risk.” Knock Out paused for just a moment before continuing, “As a medic, I know the best ways to work around such protocols. So we tried. A lot. For a long time. It became painfully obvious the problem was one of us. I examined us both thoroughly and found it wasn’t Breakdown that was the problem.”

Starscream let Knock Out take a moment to compose himself. It was obvious this was hard to talk about and, briefly, Starscream wondered why Knock Out was telling him this. He realized the answer was that Knock Out considered them...friends. Or at least friendly enough to tell him something this heavy for him.

“When Megatron needed a new medic, I fit the bill perfectly. I’m effective and just the right amount of morally questionable for him. I remember the only concern was my relationship with Breakdown and the risk that I could become _distracted_ in the future.” The medic muttered. “I told Soundwave the truth, he told Megatron, I got the job.”

“Megatron shouldn’t have…” Starscream started, but trailed off.

It didn’t really matter what Megatron should or shouldn’t have done. He’d asked, he’d gotten the information, and obviously it had been the answer he wanted. Starscream felt slightly nauseous at the thought. Megatron had been so careful to avoid the possibility of a mech getting sparked back then. He’d obviously been against the idea of having a sparkling on the Nemesis, and what was to say his opinion had changed at all since then?

“I never knew.” Starscream decided to say instead. “He’s an idiot, it isn’t his business what other mechs do with their partners. Besides, Soundwave has a flock of creations, what’s one sparkling to add to that?”

“To be fair, Soundwave’s cassettes are all grown.” Knock Out sighed. “Oh well. He’ll have to deal with it now.”

Starscream hummed. There was always the chance Megatron could find out and order Knock Out to terminate Starscream’s sparkling. Would the medic do it? He’d done a lot of questionable things under Megatron’s orders, but would he take the choice away from Starscream? Starscream found himself not even needing to ask the question out loud. He didn’t trust a lot of things, but he trusted that Knock Out wouldn’t force him to do such a thing. Not after sharing what he just had.

“Yes, I suppose he will.” Starscream said quietly.

“Enough of that talk,” Knock Out said, sounding more like his usual self, “Your sparkling is fine. If anything changes, any pain, I’m just a comm away. You’re free to go.”

Starscream nodded and hopped off of the medberth. He left Knock Out after that, doing his best to pretend he didn’t hear the medic comm Breakdown when he assumed Starscream was out of earshot.

The way the visit with Knock Out had gone admittedly put Starscream in a bit of a down mood. He honestly just wanted to get back to Skywarp and Thundercracker’s room and demand they have a collective nap time. He’d found it was slightly easier to relax and rest when with his trine. It made sense-- and it was perfectly reasonable considering the circumstances! As much as he hated to admit to himself, being sparked had made him enjoy the softer moments he had with his trine more. Unfortunately the moments seldom lasted because the second Skywarp commented on it, Starscream would threaten to gut him.

...Alright, softer moments were a work in progress.

Starscream sighed and paused on the way to his trine’s room. He stopped walking right in front of one of the windows on the ship and saw a storm brewing outside. Earth storms were loud and annoying. They made Starscream irritable on a good day. He wondered if his sparkling would dislike storms. Sparklings disliked loud noises like thunder, right?

He frowned.

He...didn’t want his sparkling to be born on Earth, in all honesty. He disliked the planet, putting it mildly. His wings drooped low at the thought. Would his sparkling even be _happy_ on Earth?

“Starscream.”

The seeker jumped.

“Megatron!” He turned to the mech in question, optics wide with surprise. How had he missed the big oaf approaching him?!

“I apologize for startling you.” Megatron said carefully.

“You didn’t startle me!” Starscream protested. “What do you want?”

“Soundwave informed me you saw Knock Out today. How are your injuries?”

Starscream frowned. Soundwave was spying on him. Great. He should’ve known that Soundwave would be watching his every move. He felt stupid for letting his guard down, even for a minute.

“I’m healing well enough.” Starscream said. “Why, were you _concerned?_ ”

It wasn’t a genuine question. He was teasing and they both knew it.

“I need to ensure you’ll be healed in time for the next battle.” Megatron said instead of answering the question.

“Sorry to say, I won’t be.”

“Soundwave mentioned that was a possibility.” Megatron sighed. “Skywarp will have to lead the airforce until your return then…”

Starscream’s wings flicked with annoyance. Skywarp leading the airforce meant he would be _busy._ Skywarp being busy meant he would have less time for _Starscream._ He found he didn’t like that. Not one bit. But he couldn’t argue over this with Megatron, not while he was sparked and unable to fight. It was infuriating.

“If that’s how it has to be.” Starscream gritted out, doing a poor job at hiding that he was clearly not a fan of the idea. “I was on my way to meet with Skywarp and Thundercracker. I’ll inform him of your...decision.”

“As expected.”

Megatron was silent for a moment, optics studying Starscream carefully. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he never did. Instead he sighed and turned away from the seeker.

“You’re dismissed.”

Starscream scoffed. He pushed past Megatron roughly, muttering under his breath how _rude_ he was, amongst other less than flattering comments. Megatron simply hummed as he watched Starscream go. Once the seeker was no longer in view, he turned to where he’d known Ravage was hiding for the duration of the conversation.

“Starscream would never sit there and allow me to give his position to Skywarp. Not even temporarily. He’s up to something.”

Ravage approached his leader, tail swishing as he took a seat next to the large mech.

“Tell Soundwave he was right.”

“He usually is.” Ravage said, tilting his head to the side.

Megatron grunted.

“You’ll keep an eye on Starscream personally. Do you understand?”

“Of course.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a more serious chapter, I'd say. I'll make it up to everyone with more Wacky Starscream Shenanigans in the next few chapters, I promise!


	6. Chapter 6

Starscream would not stop pacing back and forth and quite frankly, it was driving Skywarp and Thundercracker insane. No sooner had he barged in before he started on a rant about how Megatron was threatening to take away his rank and how Soundwave was going to expose his secrets. In truth, neither one of his trinemates could figure out what the problem really was because he just would not shut up.

All he’d done since he’d arrive was ramble on about how the world was out to get him and pace around. Skywarp was getting dizzy just looking at him.

“-And if that happens then Megatron will know and then it’s all over! For all of us!” Starscream was saying, going through what had to be close to the tenth scenario in which they would all allegedly be doomed.

“Starscream can you slow down for a second?” Thundercracker asked, sounding desperate. “I haven’t processed a thing you’ve said since you walked in.”

“That’s not my fault!” Starscream shouted. “You need to listen! Soundwave is going to expose me to Megatron and he’s going to kill us all!”

Skywarp blinked, once, twice, then turned to Thundercracker.

“Wait, why would  _ we  _ be dying?” 

“Don’t ask me, I have no idea.” Thundercracker sighed.

Starscream let out a frustrated noise and turned away from his trinemates to start that Primus forsaken pacing again, but Thundercracker reached out and grabbed his hand, pulling him a bit closer.

“Starscream, I don’t know what has you so wound up but no one’s going to kill any of us. Especially not you, or your sparkling.” He said softly.

The gesture seemed to work. Starscream gently squeezed his hand and allowed himself to be pulled down to sit in between his trinemates. Skywarp wasted no time draping an arm over him, hoping to be comforting but doing a better job at making Starscream feel crowded than anything. Starscream didn’t protest though. The contact was...acceptable, in a way.

“Ok now start from the beginning. Soundwave’s involved in this how again?” Skywarp asked as he began to mess with one of Starscream’s wings.

Starscream flicked his wing in annoyance.

“Soundwave’s spying on me.” He explained.

“You’re sure?” Thundercracker asked.

“Positive. And if he and his little  _ brats  _ find out, they’ll tell Megatron.” He sighed heavily, suddenly feeling tired. All that ranting had really taken it out of him. He let himself lean against Skywarp a bit, shifting to get as comfortable as he could. “He can’t find out. I can’t keep my sparkling if he finds out.”

“You’re sure Megatron would react that bad?” Skywarp asked, frowning. “I mean… Yeah it’s kind of inconvenient but it’s already a done deal, right? You’re sparked and you wanna keep it...TC and I are gonna help raise it so it isn’t like Megatron really needs to worry about it. It’s not like any of it’s his responsibility so why should he care?”

“He’ll take it as an opportunity to derank me and humiliate me,  _ if _ he even lets me keep it.” Starscream said carefully. It wasn’t a lie...but it wasn’t exactly the whole truth as to why Starscream wanted to keep it from him. At best, Megatron would take over the sparkling's life and not want Starscream to have anything to do with it. At worst, he’d tell him to get rid of it. Knock Out’s story filled his processor, leading to more worst case scenarios going through his mind. “I don’t trust him.”

“You don’t trust anyone, Screamer.” Skywarp said quietly, sighing. “But ok, Megatron won’t know. So we just have to keep Soundwave the rest of them away from the truth. That should be easy enough.”

“We already agreed to cover for you, and Knock Out is doing the same, right?” Thundercracker added. “We’ll just stick with the story that you’re injured. Knock Out already made a fake damage report, right?”

Starscream froze. Knock Out was on his side, yes, but he was also keeping notes on Starscream’s condition. His _ real _ condition. If Soundwave felt inclined to, he could hack those notes. He could bypass Knock Out’s medical codes for sure. He had to get Knock Out to delete those notes. Right away.

He moved to get up, but Skywarp kept him in place. He found he didn’t have the strength to fight back, even though he wanted to.

“Hey, hey, where do you think you’re going?” Skywarp asked, “You look about ready to pass out, I don’t think you should be going out.”

“Warp’s right.” Thundercracker said, placing a hand on Starscream’s.

Starscream huffed.

“I need to tell Knock Out to delete any notes on the sparkling!” He argued, “Soundwave could hack the notes and--”

“And, it can wait.” Thundercracker insisted. “Knock Out’s got notes about your injuries that sound believable. He doesn’t have a reason to go through his other files yet.”

“Yet! That’s exactly why we need to stay ahead--”

“Starscream, you need to calm down and rest right now.” The blue seeker said, a slightly worried look in his optics. “All of... _ this _ can’t be good for the sparkling.”

Starscream frowned. There was a certain logic to what Thundercracker was saying, but there wouldn’t be a sparkling to protect if Soundwave found out. Why didn’t his trine understand that?! He tried to move again, but this time both Thundercracker and Skywarp kept him right where he was.  _ Traitors. _

“If it makes you feel better, I’ll comm Knock Out and ask him to delete the files.” Thundercracker offered. Starscream relaxed ever so slightly. It was a small victory. “But only if you rest, ok?”

“...Fine. But I expect you to hold up your end of the bargain.”

“I will.”

With that, Starscream let his trine pull him down to their berth and he felt himself slip into recharge within seconds. Clearly being sparked was taking a lot of energy out of him. Thundercracker and Skywarp exchanged a look over Starscream’s sleeping frame.

“His paranoia better not rub off on the sparkling.” Skywarp muttered, sounding rather tired himself.

“I wouldn’t count on that.” Thundercracker said, closing his optics and allowing himself to relax a bit. “That sparkling is going to be just like Starscream. I just feel it.”

Skywarp groaned at the thought. It wasn’t long after that before the two of them fell into recharge alongside Starscream. It was the rest they all deserved. Starscream’s frame was going through a lot and Thundercracker and Skywarp were going through a lot  _ dealing  _ with him. For the first time since this ordeal, the three of them recharged peacefully.

Starscream woke first, as he normally did. For a few seconds, he let himself enjoy the feeling of his trine being so close to him. It was relaxing and he wanted to continue being relaxed, but something in his processor told him now wasn’t the time for relaxation. He barely managed to keep himself from shooting up and out of the berth when he remembered what he’d been so upset over before he’d recharged.

Soundwave.

He needed to think of a plan. He didn’t have time to recharge! Carefully, he slid out of his trine’s berth and made his way out of the room. It seemed to be late, from what Starscream could tell. The halls of the Nemesis were empty and the windows only showed darkness outside. He hummed to himself and made his way to his lab.

He’d figure something out there for sure…

While on the way to his lab, he let his mind race with various possibilities of how he could handle the situation at hand. He could always figure out a way to transwarp Soundwave off the ship and into another galaxy and stage it as an accident? But if Megatron found out he did it, he’d surely be slagged for it. He could tell Skywarp to do it… But unfortunately, he needed his trine alive and well while he was sparked.

His mind continued to come up with other ridiculous things he could do to remove Soundwave from the ship, but when every idea seemed to get shut down by some imaginary horrible outcome he only felt his anxiety levels rise. This was going to drive him insane. He walked a little faster, hoping to get to the lab sooner, but stopped dead in his tracks when he felt something.

It was an odd feeling, coming from his spark of all things. Alarms went off first-- the newspark. Something was wrong with the newspark. But after a moment he realized he was simply feeling the newspark reacting to his paranoia and anxiety. It felt as though it was trying to  _ comfort  _ him, of all things.

Starscream placed a hand over his spark, at a loss for words. That was the first time he’d felt _anything_ from the newspark. It was unlike anything he’d felt before, but he almost liked it. It was nice to feel his creation and already it seemed to care about him and worry for him. He wished it could understand that he was the one who was supposed to worry about it, not the other way around.

It took him a moment, but he forced himself to continue walking towards his lab once more. He felt more certain now that he could do this. He could keep his sparkling a secret, keep it safe, and keep Megatron and Soundwave in the dark about the whole thing. He knew  _ exactly _ what he had to do now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how the fandom decided sparklings work so I'm just doing my own thing at this point... Next up: Starscream's an idiot.


	7. Chapter 7

Megatron stared at the datapad in his hand with narrowed optics. Starscream was sure he’d read the words on it at least four times at this point and knew full well what it said, he was just staring at it in disbelief at this point. Finally, after what felt like forever, Megatron’s optics lifted from the datapad and immediately focused on Starscream.

“You can’t be serious.” He said, irritation clear in his tone.

Starscream frowned.

“I’m completely serious.”

Megatron set the datapad aside and glared at his second in command.

“You want to take a _vacation._ ” He stressed. “In the middle of a war.”

“It isn’t a vacation!”

“A transfer request to Cybertron may as well be a vacation!” Megatron snapped. “You can’t seriously think I would even consider this request!”

Starscream huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. He really didn’t understand why Megatron seemed so mad at the transfer request. Shouldn’t he be happy with this? They didn’t get along and Megatron had tried to get rid of him before by assigning him to off world missions and the like. He’d thought Megatron would jump at the opportunity to be rid of him, even if it was only for a while.

“I don’t see why you wouldn’t.” The seeker grumbled.

Megatron stood abruptly, looming over Starscream.

“You’re my second in command, you are my air commander. You can’t just decide you’d rather be on Cybertron, pack your bags, and leave!” He shouted, drawing the attention of just about every bot in the room.

Starscream’s wings drooped momentarily before flicking back up in defiance.

“I’m your _injured_ second in command, _unable_ to act as your air commander. I’m doing nothing here but rusting away while I’m here!” Starscream challenged. “If I were on Cybertron, I could be more productive--”

“Shockwave can handle things on Cybertron. He’s a scientist, he knows what he’s doing.”

_“I’m_ a scientist!” Starscream said, hands flying up in frustration, “We could double our efforts on Cybertron with me there!”

Megatron growled, taking a step closer towards Starscream to size him up and assert that he was the one in charge here.

“My answer is no. My decision is final.”

Starscream glared at him. He opened his mouth to object but quickly shut it, shaking his helm. He was getting a headache just talking to Megatron. He reached over and snatched the datapad from where Megatron had set it aside, turned on his heels, and stormed out of the room.

Several bots were still staring after Starscream left, but none said a word. They were wise not to. Megatron was ready to throw something--or someone--out of the Nemesis’ nearest window.

Megatron sighed heavily and fell back onto his throne.

“Lord Megatron.” Soundwave intoned carefully.

“What.”

“That could have been handled better.”

Had Soundwave not been the most competent person in his high command, he would have been scrap metal. But Megatron kept his rage under control and instead turned to face his ever loyal communications officer.

“You think?” Megatron asked sarcastically. “It’s Starscream. Everything ends in a shouting match with him.”

Soundwave stared at him, quiet and judging.

“Not lately.” He said after a long moment.

Soundwave was feeling bold today, Megatron could tell. Had he not been practiced at schooling his features, he may have reacted to that with a look of shock. Instead, he narrowed his optics and frowned.

“Do you care to elaborate on that?” Megatron asked dangerously. “You don’t seriously think he’s requesting this transfer for the greater good of the Decepticon cause, do you? Any other time he’s been injured he doesn’t have a problem lounging around and using up our resources.”

“Starscream: is planning something.” Soundwave said, “Starscream: is also legitimately injured.”

Something in Megatron’s expression softened slightly.

“I take it Ravage has confirmed his injuries are what he claims, then.”

“...Affirmative.” Soundwave said after a barely there moment of hesitation. Megatron didn’t catch it, so he pushed on, “Medical reports are consistent with Starscream’s claims. Ravage’s surveillance footage is consistent with the injuries listed in the reports.”

“This doesn’t change he’s planning something.”

“Perhaps.” There was a beat of silence. “Suggestion: apologize to Starscream.”

Megatron grunted in response, pointedly turning away from Soundwave. The conversation was over as far as Megatron was concerned, but he noticed Soundwave lingered a moment longer. He didn’t push Megatron, but it was obvious he expected him to comply with his suggestion. Megatron wasn’t eager to seek Starscream out, and even less eager to admit maybe he’d been a bit harsh and quick to judge.

“I’ll consider it.” He said after all.

Soundwave nodded and left Megatron to his own devices. Megatron tried to push Starscream to the back of his mind for the rest of his duty shift, but he found it hard to. Starscream occupied his mind quite a lot lately and to be honest, Megatron wasn’t sure how to feel about that. His relationship with the seeker was complex, putting it simply.

They hadn’t genuinely gotten along in a long, long time. Since the early days of the war. While Soundwave was right to say that lately that had been changing, that didn’t mean he could trust Starscream. Trust him to be honest, to not scheme behind his back, to not try to overthrow him-- the list went on. _But he had been honest,_ Megatron reminded himself. At least to a degree. His injury was real from what Soundwave could tell. But it wasn’t the full story and that’s what made Megatron hesitant.

Just before the shift rotation happened, he was lucky to catch Thundercracker walking by. Megatron called the seeker over, noting how nervous he appeared. He’d no doubt heard about the argument earlier that day between Megatron and his trine leader.

“What do you need, Lord Megatron?” Thundercracker asked stiffly.

“I want you to tell Starscream he’s to meet with me in a half hour.”

Thundercracker’s wings drooped low.

“I…” Thundercracker hesitated, “He’s not feeling well. I don’t think he’d be up to making another trip down here.”

It was a clumsy excuse, but Megatron commended him for the effort.

“Then he can meet with me in my quarters. It’s much closer.”

The seeker’s wings drooped even more.

“Ok…” He sighed, “I-I mean yes sir.”

Megatron hummed and motioned for Thundercracker to go. The seeker scurried off, likely to go deliver the bad news to Starscream. Megatron felt slightly bad for the position he’d put Thundercracker in, but didn’t linger on the feeling. Instead he rose from his throne and headed to his quarters to mentally prepare himself to...apologize.

The half hour passed all too soon.

Starscream stood at his door in thirty minutes on the dot. He looked cranky, like a youngling woken up from a nap. It would have been funny if he weren’t so obviously pissed off. He shoved past Megatron and waltzed into his quarters, then turned to face him with his hands on his hips.

“What do you want.” He asked, venom seeping into his tone.

“I want to reopen the discussion we had earlier.” Megatron said, calmly closing the door behind him. “I feel I may have been...quick to judge.”

“Oh, you think?” Starscream said, glaring. “Are you letting me go to Cybertron?”

In truth, Megatron had no intentions to change his verdict on the request. Starscream leaving for Cybertron would result in trouble, he could feel it. But he couldn’t outright say that or it would just start another fight.

“I want to understand your position better.” He said instead, “And...apologize for my attitude earlier.”

Starscream frowned, but the anger left his features. It was a small win.

“I’m injured, I’m not useful here, it makes sense for me to go to Cybertron where I can still contribute.” The seeker explained, “That’s all.”

“It isn’t, Starscream. I know it isn’t.”

Starscream’s mouth twitched. He didn’t like where this was going.

“There’s another piece to this that you aren’t telling me.” Megatron continued. “I like to think that recently we’ve...learned to _understand_ each other better.”

That was an interesting way to say they’d been fragging like rabid turbofoxes, but sure, perhaps it had opened the door for them to be able to talk about some personal things a few times. Starscream wasn’t sure if that equated to them understanding each other, though.

“You may not think I pay attention to your actions, Starscream, but I do, and I know how you are. You’re self serving, arrogant, and secretive.”

“I thought you called me here to say sorry.”

“Let me finish.”

Starscream rolled his optics and motioned for him to continue. Megatron took a step closer.

“I also know that in a battle, you’re merciless and effective. And when you get injured, you hold a grudge. You’ll retreat, yes, but when you come back, and you always do, you return the favor two fold.” Megatron said, looking directly into Starscream’s optics as he spoke, “Going to Cybertron would mean you’re _running away._ ”

“I’m not…”

“You are.”

Starscream stared up at Megatron, optics studying his features carefully. Megatron was _right._ He knew that. He was running, but he wasn’t running from some Autobot. He was running from _Megatron._ He was so close to figuring that out.

“I almost died.” He said as if it explained anything.

“You’ve had worse.” Megatron took Starscream’s hand in his own gently. “That never stopped you before.”

Starscream instinctively squeezed Megatron’s hand like it was the only thing keeping him grounded. His processor was spinning. He wanted to be mad, and he was, because Megatron was exposing him, spelling it out for him that he was being a coward, and Primus he was so dangerously close to piecing together an important part of this puzzle. But another side yearned for the contact, the way Megatron was looking at him. _Blasted carrier protocols…_

“If that’s all it is, which I know it isn’t, you should know I’ll kill whoever should try to lay a hand on you. No one will harm you. Not again.” The confession came so suddenly. It was too easily admitted, and that’s what snapped Starscream out of his awe.

Megatron was only saying such a thing because of his siring protocols.

“Careful, Megatron,” He began, pulling his hand away from his leader’s, “You keep saying things like that and I might think you _care_ about me.”

Megatron grunted, giving Starscream an odd look.

“I could.” He said cryptically.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Starscream asked before thinking better of it. He didn’t want Megatron to answer that, he didn’t want to know what it meant. He fumbled for something to say quickly, before Megatron could say something stupid again. “You don’t trust me. You think I’m keeping secrets from you. But you expect me to believe you’ll protect me in battle? Is that a joke?”

He was being mean, he knew, but he didn’t _care._ He needed this conversation to be over.

“You _are_ keeping secrets from me. You always have.” Megatron said, “I’m saying you don’t _have_ to.”

“Of course I have to.”

Megatron frowned, taking another step forward. Starscream took one step back, but that didn’t keep Megatron from advancing on him. He backed Starscream up against the nearest wall, looking down at him with a fire in his optics that Starscream had only seen in the heat of battle. He was determined.

Starscream swallowed thickly.

“You don’t.” Megatron muttered. “So _don’t._ ”

Starscream felt Megatron’s hands tilting his face up, could feel him closing in, but he didn’t move or even try to tell him to stop. He felt Megatron’s lips cover his, gently at first, but when he found no resistance he deepened the kiss. Starscream let out a small noise, feeling his spark _sing_ at the contact. He knew his carrier protocols would make him crave contact with Megatron but he hadn’t expected to feel so desperate once he actually got it.

Without thinking, he moved and wrapped his arms around Megatron’s neck, pulling him closer. Megatron made a pleased noise, one hand dipping down to wrap around Starscream’s waist. They were pulled close against each other and it felt good. Starscream felt his bottled up anxiety melting from his frame. His spark felt warm with--with _what_ he couldn’t tell. He just knew he definitely wanted Megatron to keep kissing him and holding him.

Megatron pulled away just a bit, causing Starscream to whine at the loss of contact.

_“Trust me,”_ Megatron said, breath hot against Starscream’s lips.

Starscream felt dizzy. Trust him. He could...he couldn’t do that. No. He could trust Megatron. But he wanted to. His processor and protocols were at war with themselves. One screaming _no, Megatron wasn’t to be trusted,_ the other screaming _yes, just be with him already!_ Beneath those feelings, he felt the newspark.

It was...happy. It was glad to be near its sire. It was almost enough to make Starscream cave entirely, but he didn’t. He forced it to let him harden his resolve. The newspark was simply reacting to its creators, it couldn’t understand something as complicated as Starscream’s situation.

“I can’t.” Starscream said, placing one hand over his spark.

Megatron backed off, clearly unhappy.

“How many times do I have to tell you--”

“How many times do I have to stress that I can’t trust you!” Starscream shouted, stunning them both.

Starscream felt the newspark reaching out to him, likely trying to calm the sudden burst of frustration coming off from its carrier. It was clearly confused, but trying to help all the same. Starscream wanted to scream; everything was too much. He clutched his hand tightly over where the newspark was, finding it difficult to think, to do much of anything really.

“What do I have to do?” Megatron asked, suddenly.

“What?” Starscream asked, voice box feeling tight in his throat all the sudden.

“What do I have to do for you to understand I’m trying to be helpful.”

_Promise not to slag me when you find out I’m sparked? Promise not to take the newspark away? Let me do this, let me have the sparkling and raise it._ **_Trust me_ ** _to--_

“Trust me.” Starscream said, echoing Megatron’s words from earlier, feeling desperate. “Just trust me when I say nothing is going on. I’m not planning anything. Trust me and let me go to Cybertron.”

Megatron sighed, closing his optics. Starscream felt a surge of confidence-- he was going to cave. He was going to let him go and then he wouldn’t have to be here anymore. He wouldn’t have to put up with these confusing and conflicting emotions swarming about his processor. Megatron opened his optics and they were softer than normal. Starscream was sure of it. He was going to open his mouth and say--

“No.”

“What--I--What?!”

“You aren’t going to Cybertron.” Megatron said sternly. “We can discuss alternative ways for you to contribute to the cause, but you aren’t leaving the Nemesis.”

Starscream’s wings dropped and he suddenly felt very, very vulnerable. He hated it.

Megatron picked up on it immediately, reaching out to take Starscream’s hand in his again.

“I need to leave.” Starscream whispered. His tanks were twisting in a nasty combination of dread, anxiety, and genuine fatigue.

“Stay, Starscream.” Megatron said softly, patiently. “We can talk about this. Perhaps we can even come to an understanding…”

“I can’t. I can’t.” Starscream violently pulled away from Megatron, stumbling as he did. Megatron reached out to help him, but Starscream swatted at him, growling. He needed to leave _right now._

“Starscream--”

“Don’t!” _He was going to purge._

Megatron stayed perfectly still as Starscream fumbled with the door panel, trying to get it open as quickly as possible. He failed twice, but once the door was open, he was gone. Starscream sped down the hall, refusing to look back. He was close to his trine’s quarters. He just needed to get there and then he could calm down--

He must not have been looking where he was going, because when he turned down what he thought was the hall to Thundercracker and Skywarp’s room he collided head on with a wall. No, not a wall. Soundwave.

Soundwave stayed steady, but Starscream nearly fell back onto his aft.

“Starscream.”

“Get out of my way!” Starscream hissed, trying to be intimidating but he was far from it. He was wobbling, his wings were pointed down, shaking, drawn tight to his frame. He was pretty sure his voice cracked too, but he wasn’t sure if he could handle acknowledging that right now. He was humiliated enough as it was, and the need to purge was only getting stronger.

Soundwave didn’t move out of his way.

“You’re unwell.” He said instead.

“Yeah no sh--” Starscream covered his mouth quickly, just barely biting back the ill feeling rising to his throat. “Oh Primus I’m doing to--”

“Sit.” Soundwave urged quickly, already moving to help position the seeker.

Starscream allowed it. He just didn’t have the strength to fight against Soundwave at this point. Everything felt so tight and uncomfortable. He hated every second he continued to feel this way. It was beyond embarrassing, and the fact he felt coolant stinging his optics was only making it worse.

His breath hitched and he bit his lip to keep himself from crying. If he let the dam break here in front of Soundwave, then he really would purge.

He heard motion from down the hall and squeezed his optics closed. _Great, someone else would be witness to this moment of weakness._

“Starscream?” Thundercracker’s surprised voice snapped him out of his thoughts. Before he knew it, Thundercracker was at his side, shooing Soundwave away. “What happened? Can you stand?”

“I can stand just fine…” He forced out, but didn’t object when Thundercracker helped him up anyways. He leaned heavily on the other seeker, honestly not trusting himself to stay standing without the support. “I’m going to purge.”

“Ok. Just make it back to my room first, can you do that?”

Starscream nodded. The pair started walking, and Starscream so occupied with making sure he didn’t fall on his face that he didn’t notice when Thundercracker turned his head and mouthed a quick ‘thank you’ to Soundwave.

Soundwave waited patiently for the two seekers to get to Thundercracker and Skywarp’s quarters and a moment longer for the door to shut behind them. The moment the door closed, he brought up a comm to Ravage,

_:Bring up Knock Out’s notes on Starscream’s medical records. It is urgent.:_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Starscream continues to be the messiest bitch on the Nemesis, Megatron is a close second though. Soundwave is the only one with a functioning braincell anymore.


	8. Chapter 8

Starscream was not having a good start to his day. He felt miserable from the night before and he didn’t want to get up from where he was cuddled up to Thundercracker’s side. He’d been glued to Thundercracker since the night before and had only moved a handful of times to go purge. He still felt ill, but being close to Thundercracker was making him feel slightly better. Slightly.

“Starscream,” Thundercracker muttered, shifting a bit, “I have a shift starting soon. I need to go…”

“No.”

“I can’t just not show up.”

“Just say you have a virus or something.” Starscream mumbled, trying to pull Thundercracker closer. “Say you got it from Skywarp. Everyone will believe it.”

“Hey!” Skywarp said, offended. He glared from where he sat on the berth. He’d wanted to stay close to Starscream in case he needed anything, but Starscream had complained when he’d tried to join in on the cuddling so he ended up sitting next to them instead.

Thundercracker sighed.

“I’m going to go to my shift, Starscream. And when I do,  _ you’re _ going to go to Knock Out.”

Starscream frowned and pulled away just enough to glare up at Thundercracker.

“Why would I do that?”

“You aren’t...doing well.” The blue seeker said, moving a hand to gently rub Starscream’s wings. “You aren’t acting like yourself and you keep purging…”

“I’m sparked. I’m sure that’s normal.” Starscream said. “And I’m acting perfectly normal.”

Skywarp raised an optic ridge at that. This was very obviously not normal for them. Sure, Skywarp and Thundercracker were affectionate towards each other, but Starscream? He hadn’t been physically affectionate with them in about a million years.

“That’s rich.”

“Shut up, Skywarp.” Starscream snapped. “It’s just carrier protocols. That’s all. Don’t look too deep into it.”

“I would still feel better if you want to see Knock Out.” Thundercracker said. “Starscream, the newspark hasn’t dropped yet. I don’t think you’re supposed to be purging like this so early…”

“We’re just worried, Screamer.” Skywarp added.

Starscream appreciated the sentiment, but very much did not want to get up and walk to the medbay or let Thundercracker go. Thundercracker was warm and comfortable, he didn’t want to lose the only thing helping him stay calm. But there was a certain amount of logic to Thundercracker’s line of thinking. If something was wrong and he ignored it...he didn’t think he’d be able to forgive himself.

“Fine.” He sighed, pushing himself up. “I’ll go see Knock Out. Whatever.”

“I’ll see you when I get off my shift, then.” Thundercracker said, trying to give Starscream a reassuring smile. 

Starscream just waved his hand at him dismissively.

“Sure, see you later.” He muttered, only very bitter that his mech-sized pillow was now leaving him.

Skywarp hopped up and wrapped his arm around Starscream.

“Aww don’t look so sad. You’ll still have me around.” He said, smiling.

“I thought I was going to see Knock Out. Alone.”

“Yeah, I don’t trust you to actually do that if I don’t tag along.” Skywarp admitted way too easily. “So I’m coming with you.”

Starscream gave Thundercracker a death glare as Skywarp dragged him out of the room. Thundercracker just gave him a small wave as he watched his trine leave. Little did he know, Starscream was plotting at least five different ways to get revenge on the blue seeker.

The only saving grace of the situation was that not many mechs were out and about. The halls were mostly clear, which meant no one got to see Starscream in the state he was in. Good. He didn’t want anyone to see him like this. He knew he didn’t look good right now, and his looks only reflected a portion of how bad he truly felt.

He and Skywarp walked in mostly silence down the empty halls as they made their way to the medbay. They were halfway there when Starscream began to get suspicious. Why was it so barren? It wasn’t that late. It was about time for a shift change, actually, so why…

Soundwave rounded the hall before Starscream could even finish the thought.

“Starscream.” His monotone voice sent chills up Starscream’s spinal strut.

_ What was he doing here? What was he planning? _

“What do you want? I’m busy.” Starscream snapped.

Soundwave studied him for a moment.

“Query: has your condition improved?”

Starscream scoffed.

“Take a wild guess.” He muttered.

“We’re kind of in the middle of something.” Skywarp said, flaring his wings out just slightly. A warning.

Soundwave did not seem intimidated in the slightest.

“Your condition has worsened.” Soundwave said.

“Congratulations, you have functioning optics.” Starscream said sarcastically.

“Your symptoms are no longer consistent with the injuries listed in your medical files.”

Starscream froze. His anxiety flared up almost immediately.  _ Soundwave knew.  _ There was no other reason to orchestrate this encounter. He already knew everything and he’d probably already told Megatron everything. It was over--

_ No. _ No it wasn’t over. Soundwave may think he knew everything, but Starscream could still talk his way out of this. He just had to be very, very careful and he had to make sure Skywarp didn’t say something stupid and give Soundwave any information. He forced himself to appear calm.

“Which is exactly why I’m on my way to see Knock Out.” Starscream said, proud of himself for how steady his voice came out. “There seems to have been a complication in my recovery.”

Skywarp nodded at his side,

“Yeah, he probably just missed something before.” He added quickly.

“Soundwave: shall accompany you.”

Starscream’s optic twitched.

“I’m sure you have more important things to do.”

“Lord Megatron would like someone to keep a closer eye on your recovery. I have been appointed that duty.” Soundwave said easily, though Starscream was 90% sure that was a flat out lie.

“My trine is more than capable--”

“They are less capable at documenting your recovery.”

“Knock Out can update him then.”

“Knock Out is busy. I am better suited as I can give constant and direct updates to Lord Megatron.”

Starscream was feeling backed into a corner. Soundwave was trying to get him to admit he was lying, wasn’t he? Well good luck with that, Starscream wasn’t going to admit defeat so easily.

“As much as I really don’t appreciate the effort, it’s really not necessary. This is a small set back. The rest of my recovery is going just fine.”

Soundwave nodded.

“Noted. If that is true, then it is not unreasonable to expect you will be ready for the next battle that is being planned.”

Skywarp looked at Starscream with wide optics.  _ Slag. _

“That’s… I highly doubt--”

“Are there other issues Lord Megatron should be notified of?”

“No, but--”

“Then there should be no further delays. Small setback included.” Soundwave said, and Starscream swore he was giving him a judging look underneath his visor. “Unless you are hiding something.”

Starscream was silent. What could he say? If he played up his injury, Soundwave would stick to him like a cyber leech. If he didn’t, Soundwave would report that he was fit for battle. The worst part was that he knew Megatron hadn’t put Soundwave up to this. Soundwave was doing this on his own, and he’d effectively gotten Starscream to the point where he had to confess.

“Starscream. If you are lying it is important Lord Megatron be made aware--”

“Oh shut up about Megatron!” Starscream snapped, shouting as loud as he could, “If Megatron actually knew what you were up to, he’d be furious and you know that! He wouldn’t stand for you  _ harassing _ me like this and you know that!”

Megatron’s sire protocols wouldn’t stand for it, but still. It counted and it validated what Starscream was saying. Starscream was sure Soundwave knew that, and that had been why he’d included Megatron so much in what he was saying. Starscream didn’t care about handing him this victory anymore though, he was frustrated and ready to shout until he felt like he was winning in this conversation again.

“Wait, I thought Megatron didn’t like you?” Skywarp questioned, forcing Starscream out of his tantrum and back into reality.

Oh.

He’d forgotten Skywarp was there. Great.

“Why would he be mad?” Skywarp asked, pressing Starscream for an answer.

“No reason.” Starscream said weakly, “Forget I said anything about it.”

Skywarp was not going to forget about it. In fact, he had his thinking face on and Starscream was more than ready to try and run away from this conversation entirely. If Skywarp connected the dots here and now, he didn’t think he could handle it.

“Uh...Screamer…” Skywarp’s hesitant tone made Starscream shut his optics tightly.

He couldn’t do this right now. He didn’t know what else to say or do anymore. He just wanted this entire encounter to be over. Lucky him, his frame seemed to want the same. One minute he was standing there, his stress and anxiety basically palpable, and the next, he was toppling over unconscious. Skywarp managed to catch him just before he hit the ground, yelping in surprise.

“Oh slag, the newspark!” Skywarp cried out before he could think better of it.

“Newspark.” Soundwave repeated, staring at Starscream’s unconscious form.

He’d had a hunch. More than just a hunch, really, but by Primus had he not wanted to be right about it. This changed everything, and Soundwave feared it was for the worst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh oh Screamer, you're in trouble!


	9. Chapter 9

Starscream woke up in the medbay and for one moment, one blissful moment, he’d thought his encounter with Soundwave had been a dream. That moment was quickly shattered when he opened his optics and saw Skywarp, Knock Out, and Soundwave all talking and examining various datapads. Starscream suddenly wished he had Skywarp’s teleporting abilities so he could be literally anywhere but there.

He tried to sit up, but groaned and quickly went to lay back down. His helm ached something _awful._

“Oh! He’s still alive!” Skywarp said, relieved.

“If he was in danger of dying I would have told you.” Knock Out said, rolling his optics and setting his datapad aside. “Welcome back to the world of the living, Starscream.”

“I would very much like to go back to sleep now.” Starscream grumbled.

“You can recharge more soon.” The medic said, approaching him, “Right now I have some questions that need answering.”

This time, Starscream shot up completely, ignoring his headache. He aimed his best glare at Soundwave and Skywarp.

“If they told you anything, they’re lying!” He accused.

Knock Out stared at him, unamused.

“I’m not going to ask you about Megatron.” He said, “I won’t lie though, I’m _not_ surprised to find out he’s the sire of your sparkling. I had my suspicions. Having them confirmed does make this easier as your doctor at least.”

Starscream frowned.

“Anyways,” Knock Out went on, “I need to know how you’ve been feeling lately.”

“Horrible?” Starscream said, as if it were obvious. “I’m sparked. It’s awful. That’s to be expected.”

Knock Out and Soundwave exchanged a look.

“From what Knock Out has told me, your newspark has not yet dropped to your gestation chamber.” Soundwave said, taking a step forward.

“It hasn’t. What of it?”

Starscream was clearly getting defensive. His wings rose and flared out just a bit, expressing that he did _not_ want to be crowded by the other bots right now. Soundwave seemed to get the message and stayed right where he was, not moving any closer, but Knock Out didn’t seem to care that he was in Starscream’s personal space.

“Skywarp said you’ve been purging.” Knock Out said, “That’s not normal for this stage of carrying.”

“What?” Starscream asked, helm whipping to look at the medic.

“That’s to be expected closer to when the sparkling is ready to arrive. You shouldn’t be getting sick at this stage at all.”

The seeker’s wings dropped immediately, flattening on his back. Any intimidation he was trying to radiate was gone and replaced with _sadness_ and _worry._ Skywarp quickly made his way to Starscream’s side and placed a hand comfortingly on his back, gently petting at his wings.

“Hey, KO checked the newspark while you were sleeping and he said it was ok!” Skywarp said, forcing a small smile.

“Then why am I purging so much?”

“Putting it simply, you’re making yourself so stressed and anxious that it's making you physically sick.” Knock Out informed him. “Whatever you’ve been thinking or doing to get yourself so wound up needs to stop, Starscream.”

“I’m not doing anything!” Starscream snapped. “It’s Megatron’s fault! It’s always his fault!”

Soundwave shook his head from where he stood behind Knock Out. Starscream shot him a rude gesture and a glare.

“Keeping this from Megatron has been counterproductive.” Soundwave said, refusing to acknowledge Starscream’s childish behavior.

“I have to agree with him.” Knock Out said.

“Traitor.” The seeker growled. “I have to keep it from Megatron or it’ll all get worse!”

Skywarp frowned.

“Screamer, I don’t know if that’s a good idea anymore. I know you said before that you didn’t want the sire to know, and TC and I supported it, but… Maybe Megatron knowing is a good idea?” He tried, “I don’t think it’s healthy to keep it from him anymore.”

“Oh great, you’re a traitor too!” Starscream shouted, moving to stand up.

Big mistake, he realized far too late. His vision went fuzzy and he was pretty sure he almost fell over again, but Skywarp reached out to steady him before that could happen. He tried to slap Skywarp’s hands away, but his trinemate held on. Knock Out moved as well, trying to ease Starscream to sit back down.

“You shouldn’t be standing up yet.” The medic said.

“Oh shut up!” Starscream shrieked, struggling against the two bots, “Don’t act like you care! If you did, you two wouldn’t be trying to get me to tell that stupid, idiotic, brute!”

“I want you to tell him _because_ I care about you!” Skywarp said, “Hiding it is a bad, bad idea!”

Starscream let out a frustrated noise and shoved at Skywarp as hard as he could, trying to get the purple seeker to back off.

“Why is that? Because he just won't do something ridiculous when he finds out I’m sparked with his Primus damned offspring, right? I’m supposed to believe that?! I don’t! I’m not going to tell him!”

“Starscream--”

“Has anybody thought about what I want?!” Starscream asked, looking from Skywarp to Knock Out, “Have either of you thought that maybe I’m so against him being a part of this for a reason?! Maybe I don’t want him to be a part of this because I don’t trust him with my sparkling! I don’t trust him with _me!_ How am I supposed to tell him if I don’t trust him!”

“You don’t trust anyone, Starscream!” Skywarp finally snapped, “You barely trust me and TC!”

Starscream grit his denta together and looked away from Skywarp. This conversation had gone so far south so quickly.

“I _did_ trust you. I trusted you _both_ with this. Fully.” He muttered, placing a hand protectively over where the newspark was. “But I’m beginning to think I was wrong to do that.”

Skywarp went quiet, looking at the ground instead of at Starscream.

“Suggestion.” Soundwave spoke up, despite the uncomfortably tense atmosphere in the room, “Soundwave speaks to Starscream. Alone.”

“A splendid idea.” Knock Out said, already heading for the door. “Have at it.”

Skywarp hesitated but ended up wordlessly following Knock Out out of the room. The door slid shut, leaving Starscream alone with the bot he trusted the least right then. The tense silence continued for a few more moments before Soundwave spoke up,

“Query.”

“Oh here we go.”

“Why do you distrust Megatron with your wellbeing?” Soundwave asked, surprising Starscream. He’d expected him to ask about the newspark or try to convince him to tell Megatron like the others.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Starscream asked, shrugging. “We don’t get along.”

“...Your relationship has improved in recent months.” Soundwave said carefully. “It has been productive.”

“That doesn’t mean I want to have a sparkling with him.” Starscream said, frowning. “So what if it’s been better lately? That doesn’t mean I trust him with this.”

Soundwave nodded.

“Trust is important when raising a sparkling.” Was Soundwave actually agreeing with him here? “But the correct information is important when making a decision to raise a sparkling alone.”

Starscream gave him a look.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Megatron would be glad to raise a sparkling with you.” Soundwave said, as if it were obvious. “Megatron would do you and your sparkling no harm.”

“What proof do you have of this?”

Soundwave paused a moment, and for a second Starscream thought he’d gotten his point across. He realized that wasn’t the case when he heard the telltale click of Soundwave preparing to share a recording,

 _“Careful, Megatron, you keep saying things like that and I might think you care about me.”_ Starscream’s own voice said. He frowned. He remembered this conversation, and he remembered exactly what Megatron had said next.

_“I could.”_

Starscream sighed and closed his optics. He remembered how good it had felt to let his guard down around Megatron for just a moment. How his spark had felt so at ease with Megatron. But just because Megatron had been nicer in that moment didn’t mean he would be open to raising a sparkling. It didn’t mean he could see Starscream as someone he’d _want_ that with. ...Did it?

_“Trust me.”_

Megatron’s voice said again.

“Nice to know you eavesdrop on our private conversations.” Starscream mumbled. “You have some fancy recordings. That doesn’t mean I magically trust Megatron.”

“Skywarp is correct in that you have difficulty trusting others.”

“He’s given me reasons not to trust him.”

“You have also given him reasons not to trust you.” Soundwave reminded him. “Regardless, he would be willing to try--”

Starscream made a frustrated noise, cutting Soundwave off. He let his head drop to his hands and let out a heavy sigh.

“No one knows that for sure!” He stressed, “What if I tell him and he doesn’t react how I want him to? He could force me to get rid of it. He could take it away from me. He could take over how it’s raised and not let me have a say. That isn’t what I want!”

“Starscream. How do you want Megatron to react?” Soundwave’s question made Starscream look up at him with wide optics. “What do you want from him?”

That...wasn’t something he’d thought about in depth. Beyond simply not wanting him to know so he _couldn’t_ have a reaction to the situation, he hadn’t thought too much about what he wanted Megatron to do if he did find out. There had been the brief thought, last time he’d spoken to Megatron, that he just wanted Megatron to believe that he knew what he was doing and let him keep it. He guessed the answer wasn’t so hard when he thought about it that way.

“I want him to trust me.” Starscream said quietly. “Just...trust that I know what I’m doing and that I can take care of it.”

“Megatron will trust you if you show him you trust him.”

Starscream let out a shaky sigh. It was so easy to say that… But the worst case scenario was always running through Starscream’s processor. He couldn’t help it. It was how he operated.

_“--I’ll kill whoever should try to lay a hand on you. No one will harm you.”_

Soundwave played back another recording of Megatron and Starscream could almost feel Megatron next to him. He wanted to feel that. He wanted to be told everything was fine, he was safe, his sparkling was safe, and no one would ruin that. He wanted Megatron to promise he wouldn’t ruin it…

“Suggestion: talk to Megatron.”

“I’ll consider it.” Starscream conceded. “Now can you leave me alone?”

Soundwave nodded and headed towards the door. He paused for a moment, turning to Starscream once more before he left.

“Carrying can be a difficult process for many mechs. Should you need to talk, I can make myself available.”

Starscream didn’t reply, so Soundwave left. Once the door closed, Starscream allowed himself a moment of weakness. He let himself break down crying from the stress of everything. He could blame the emotional fragility on his carrier protocols later, but right then he didn’t care about having an excuse for it. He was upset and he needed to let it out for once.

He was so lost in the moment, he didn’t notice when the door opened once more, and he couldn’t find it in himself to care or be mad when he realized Skywarp had come back to comfort him. He simply felt his trinemate wrap his arms around him and leaned into it, wanting to allow himself the comfort just for a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Starscream really needs a break, huh? Too bad my magic 8-ball says there's only drama in his immediate future :/


	10. Chapter 10

Starscream hadn’t left Thundercracker and Skywarp’s quarters in three days. At first, his trine had thought it was just his typical dramatics, but as time passed and he barely moved from the spot he’d claimed on Thundercracker’s berth, they realized he was actually upset. Ok, maybe “upset” didn’t cover it fully... He wouldn’t move from the berth, he’d barely talk to them, Pit, he’d do little else but accept fuel and turn right over to go back to recharge. Genuinely depressed was probably a better way to describe it.

Soundwave had stopped by frequently the first day, but quickly realized trying to talk to Starscream was a waste of time. He’d said something cryptic that pretty much boiled down to “If you don’t tell Megatron, I will” and that had been what officially sent Starscream into being nonverbal. Obviously he hadn’t gone through with that threat yet, but Thundercracker had a feeling that if they waited much longer he would.

Knock Out had been busy with other patients lately and, despite Thundercracker’s constant comms, hadn’t had a chance to come check on Starscream. His schedule would clear later that day, but until then he and Skywarp were stuck with a depressed Starscream and no idea of how to snap him out of it.

Skywarp’s sympathy seemed to be running out on top of everything else, which definitely wouldn’t help the situation one bit. Thundercracker didn’t pray to Primus often, but he was about to ask for some kind of miracle to fix, well,  _ everything _ so that he could go back to living his life normally.

“I just don’t get it,” Skywarp was ranting, clearly getting frustrated, “I thought he’d be less stressed since we all know who the sire is now, but nooo, he’s only acting worse.”

“Give him a break, Warp…” Thundercracker tried.

“I’m _ trying  _ to. I am.” Skywarp sighed heavily, shaking his head. “But this is all...a lot. Like, we’re keeping a really big secret from _ Megatron _ of all mechs, Soundwave’s on our afts about it, and I don’t have any idea what to do about that since Starscream won’t even talk to us anymore!”

“It isn’t really up to us to do anything about it. Starscream’s the one who needs to talk to Megatron and if he chooses not to…”

“Soundwave does it for him.”

Thundercracker looked at Starscream’s unmoving form on the berth. He must still be asleep to have not reacted to Skywarp’s words. Still, he felt a strong urge to protect Starscream from any potential anxiety that worst case scenario could cause him.

“I’ll...talk to Soundwave.” Thundercracker said uneasily. “Maybe I can convince him to let Starscream do this on his own terms, even if it takes a little longer…”

Skywarp scoffed.

“Good luck with that. Soundwave’s never listened to any of us before, I don’t get why he would now.”

“He’s a creator, too. Maybe he’ll have some sympathy for Starscream’s situation.”

Skywarp shrugged, seemingly unconvinced but he didn’t voice his doubts. It wasn’t likely that Soundwave would agree to keep the newspark a secret for much longer, but Thundercracker was sure Starscream could figure out a way to talk to him. He just...needed time. Time to get out of whatever funk he was in right now.

“I don’t think sympathy is the issue.” Skywarp said after a moment. “I think we all feel bad for him, it’s just… Megatron’s gonna blow a gasket if he finds out _ too late,  _ yknow?”

_ “Too late” _ meaning the sparkling was already born, Thundercracker figured.

“I doubt Starscream would try to wait that long.”

“I dunno, TC, he thought he could do this whole thing without telling Megatron before we all found out.” Skywarp pointed out, “And it’s not like he’s really up and about thinking of a way to break it to Megatron right now. He’s just kinda...moping.”

Thundercracker frowned. He certainly hoped Starscream understood he couldn’t simply avoid telling Megatron about the sparkling at this point, but he wouldn’t put it past him to try anyways. Starscream could never do the easy thing, could he?

It was then that Starscream decided to stir a bit, catching both of his trinemate’s attention. He rolled over, facing them with a sleepy look on his face. It would have been endearing if not for the stressful situation they were all in.

“Sleep well, princess?” Skywarp asked, walking over and flopping down right next to Starscream. “Need fuel?”

“No.” Starscream said quietly.

“You gonna go back to sleep then?”

Starscream shook his head and sat up. He looked about ready to fall over and pass out anyways, but it was the first time he’d actually attempted to get up in days so no one said a word about it.

“Has Soundwave come back?” Starscream asked, frowning.

“Nah, he backed off a while ago.” Skywarp said, reaching out to pet Starscream’s wings. The red seeker leaned into the touch without thinking about it.

“So I take it he already told Megatron, then.”

“He didn’t.” Thundercracker spoke up, “Or if he did, Megatron hasn’t said a word to us about it.”

“Which is pretty unlikely, considering that’s his sparkling you’re carrying.” Skywarp filled in.

Starscream made a face at that, but didn’t say anythin. He simply nodded and moved to fully lean against Skywarp now, finding that he was craving contact. Skywarp paused for just a moment, but quickly recovered and continued his gentle treatment of Starscream’s wings.

“You feeling ok…?” He asked carefully.

“No, I don’t feel ok. I haven’t felt ok in days, Skywarp.” Starscream muttered, scowling.

Skywarp sighed, slightly irritated.

“Is there anything I can do to help or do you just want to lay here and cuddle?” He asked, biting back the urge to be a bit more snarky and rude.

“If you try to get up I will claw your optics out. How’s that for an answer?” Starscream grumbled, moving to lay down once more but this time, he dragged Skywarp down with him. The purple mech had no complaints. _ Good, _ Starscream thought. He looked over to Thundercracker next, “What are you doing over there? Come here.”

Thundercracker arched a brow, but did as told. Starscream latched onto him the second he was within arms reach, pulling him into the cuddle pile that he’d formed with Skywarp. Thundercracker was moved around a bit as Starscream got comfortable, but after a moment the red seeker settled and sighed contentedly.

“Carrier protocols acting up again?” Skywarp asked, teasing.

“Shut up.” Starscream snapped, but it had no bite.

Skywarp chuckled, moving to cuddle closer, swinging an arm over Starscream’s waist. They all fell into a comfortable silence after that. It was nice, perfect even. Starscream felt more at ease than he had in days, and sure it was just his carrier protocols making him crave contact again, but it was enough to make him forget about Megatron and Soundwave for a little while. Time passed and he found himself nearly able to drift back to sleep, but just... _ couldn’t. _

It was fine for a while, just laying there, but after a while it started to feel...odd. No,  _ something _ started to feel odd. His spark, to be exact. That...probably wasn’t good. He sat up, his trine’s hold on him having gone limp as they’d fallen into recharge some time ago. He gently put a hand over his spark and focused on trying to feel the newspark. Was it ok? Was something wrong?

The newspark didn’t seem to be in any distress. That would have been good news if almost immediately after sensing that, Starscream hadn’t felt a sharp pain in his spark. He jolted at the feeling, optics going wide.

Quickly, he kicked at Thundercracker, trying to wake him up.

“Ow! Starscream, what the hell?” Thundercracker grumbled, sitting up and glaring at Starscream with dimly lit optics. “What was that for?”

“Something’s wrong.” Starscream said, panicked.

That seemed to erase any of Thundercracker’s anger and replace it with worry.

“What happened? What’s wrong?”

“My spark--” Starscream was cut off by another sharp pain, worse than before. He yelped at the sudden feeling, catching both himself and Thundercracker off guard. “It hurts, Primus damn it!”

Thundercracker immediately opened up a comm to Knock Out. He didn’t bother checking the time to see if he was off the clock yet. This was clearly urgent.

_ :I just did finish up with my last patient, Thundercracker.: _ Knock Out’s very unamused voice said over the comm,  _ :Has anyone ever told you patience isn’t your best quality?: _

_ :Knock Out this is an emergency.: _ Thundercracker stressed.

_ :What’s wrong.:  _ All teasing was gone from the medic’s tone now, replaced with a rarely heard seriousness that came out when Knock Out was all business.

_ :Starscream said his spark is in pain. It came out of nowhere.: _

There was a moment of silence over the comms. Thundercracker tried not to feel too anxious over it and instead used the moment to check on Starscream. He was very clearly _ trying  _ to keep it together, but failing miserably. His optics gave away the fear he felt, blown wide and staring at Thundercracker in a silent plea to  _ help. _

_ :How was he before this?: _ Knock Out asked.

_ :I don’t know, he hasn’t been doing much aside from sleeping and fueling the past few days. That’s why I was worried in the first place, but then this happened…: _

“What’s he saying?” Starscream asked suddenly. “What’s wrong with me?”

“I don’t know yet--”

“Well tell him to hurry up and figure it out!”

“Starscream, I’m trying…”

Starscream whimpered as another pain hit his spark, but this time the pain didn’t stop. The pain lessened, but didn’t leave. It was like a fire sizzling at the base of his spark, constant and steady for the moment. He instinctively reached out and Thundercracker caught his hand without thinking twice about it. Thundercracker didn’t care that Starscream’s grip crushed his hands just seconds later, he was far too focused on the red seeker’s condition to care about much else.

_ : _ **_Knock Out!_ ** _ : _

What was taking him so long to respond?!

_ :Thundercracker I need you to stay calm when I say this,:  _ Knock Out began, sounding far too uncertain for Thundercracker’s liking,  _ :But after consulting with Soundwave, I believe the newspark may be dropping early.: _

Thundercracker froze. That...that couldn’t be happening. Knock Out had said before that they’d had a month! It hadn’t been anywhere near that long since they’d found out about the newspark! Starscream squeezed his hand tighter and nudged him harshly, snapping him out of his thoughts.

“What did he say?” He asked quickly. “Thundercracker, what did he say?”

“The newspark is dropping early.” Thundercracker said quietly.

“What?! How is that possible!”

Thundercracker wanted to know the same thing. All of the yelling had finally woken Skywarp up, it seemed, and the purple seeker onlined his optics to a very confusing sight.

“What’s going on?” He asked as he sat up.

“That’s what I want to know!” Starscream shouted, “How is the fragging newspark dropping this early?! I haven’t-- I haven’t figured out how to tell Megatron yet; I don’t even know what I’m doing!”

“Starscream, calm down, it’ll be ok, we’ll figure this out.” Thundercracker said, hoping he sounded more sure of himself than he was.

_ :Starscream is freaking out, you need to get here right now.:  _ He said into the comms.

_ :Soundwave and I are on our way.: _

_ :Soundwave?: _

_ :I’ve never dealt with this before. Anything I know about this process comes from outdated texts from when I was still in training. Soundwave has actual experience with this.: _ Knock Out said,  _ :I would rather have him there and be safe than just assume things are fine and regret it later.: _

_ :Just hurry.: _

Starscream cursed as a wave of a burning pain overtook his spark. This time when the pain receded a bit, it didn’t go back to the simmering heat it had before. It was worse, and he figured it was only going to continue to get worse.  _ Primus, _ he was not ready for this.

“TC, what do we do?” Skywarp asked, looking at Thundercracker helplessly. “How do we help him?”

“I-I…” Thundercracker wished he had an answer to that, but he _ didn’t.  _ “I don’t know…”

“Primus, we are  _ slagged…” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The trine are in so far over their heads at this point its not funny, but there's no turning back now!


	11. Chapter 11

Knock Out’s arrival did not fix things as Thundercracker had hoped. The medic had broken the news that there likely wasn’t anything he’d be able to do to help Starscream through the process of the newspark splitting. Thundercracker had been less than pleased to hear this. His protective instincts flared up and for a moment, he hadn’t wanted to let Knock Out anywhere  _ near _ Starscream. If Knock Out couldn’t help, he didn’t want to risk letting him close to make things worse.

It had been Skywarp that snapped him out of the thought process.

“TC, he needs to make sure the newspark is ok… You don’t wanna say no to that and have something go wrong, right?”

Thundercracker forcefully pushed down the urge to simply  _ protect  _ and _ fight  _ anyone who so much as looked at Starscream wrong. He wondered briefly if his own coding was being influenced by Starscream’s carrier protocols. He wasn’t normally this confrontational…

“I know. I...sorry,” He said lamely, frowning at his own inability to control his emotions. “I know he needs to check on the newspark… I just… If you do something that hurts him--”

“I’m not going to hurt him.” Knock Out said honestly. “I’m just checking to make sure this is all progressing normally. I may not be able to help with the pain, but if it’s worse because something’s wrong, I need to know so I can intervene.”

Thundercracker nodded and moved to give Knock Out room to check on Starscream, but he didn’t get very far. Starscream grabbed his arm in a tight grip, looking at him with wide, panicked optics.

“Don’t leave me.” Starscream rushed out. “Don’t.”

“I’m not going to leave you, Starscream. I’m just giving Knock Out space--”

Starscream tugged him a bit closer, shaking his head.

“He can figure it out, you’re staying right here with me.”

Knock Out hummed, giving Thundercracker a curious look.

“I’ll make it work. I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be too far away from him right now.” He said, “Just get behind him or something so I can see his spark clearly.”

Thundercracker nodded and moved to sit behind Starscream, wrapping his arms tightly around the red seeker’s waist once he was settled. Starscream leaned heavily against him, optics screwed shut as another wave of pain struck him. He moved to grab one of Thundercracker’s hands but the blue seeker was already there, holding onto his hand and whispering that it would be ok.

Knock Out figured he didn’t have much time before Starscream wouldn’t be able to do as much as sit up straight, so he tried to move quickly. He manually triggered Starscream’s chest plates open and began inspecting his spark. Soundwave hovered close behind Knock Out, but his first and only attempt to get closer was cut short by Thundercracker glaring at him in warning.

“Is everything ok?” Skywarp asked, trying to get a view of his own despite not knowing what to look for to make sure things were alright. He did get to see Starscream’s spark, flickering and spinning wildly. His own spark ached for Starscream. He could see how panicked he was on all fronts. It wasn’t easy to deal with, even if he wasn’t the one going through it.

“The newspark is...bright.” Soundwave said softly.

“It’s big, too.” Knock Out mumbled.

“Is it ok, though?” Starscream asked, optics searching Knock Out’s face for anything that might give him an answer.

“It looks fine. The process seems to be coming along nicely,” Knock Out said, pulling away and readjusting Starscream’s chest plates. “You’re lucky it’s as healthy as it is with this happening so early.”

Starscream would have relaxed, if it were possible. Instead he just curled in on himself as the pain intensified. Thundercracker shushed him quietly and maneuvered their frames so they were laying down now. Starscream immediately latched onto Thundercracker, venting heavily as he tried not to scream from how bad his spark hurt.

Skywarp instinctively surged forward, but Thundercracker wasn’t letting him close, flaring his wings out in an attempt to block him from Starscream. It...stung, being shut out. He visibly deflated, his own wings drooping low.

“Don’t take it personally.” Knock Out said, moving to sit on the berth across the room to give Starscream and Thundercracker space. “He doesn’t mean it.”

Thundercracker shot Skywarp an apologetic look over his shoulder, but quickly refocused his attention on Starscream. Skywarp stood awkwardly for a second, frowning.

“I can…” Help? Fix things? Make it better? He could do none of those, and he knew it. He sighed, moving to sit down next to the berth. He felt rejected, but if Thundercracker changed his mind and let him in, he wanted to be right there. “If you need me I’m here.”

“I know, Warp…” Thundercracker said so softly that Skywarp almost missed it. “I’m sorry, I just need to protect him right now…”

“I won’t hurt him!” Skywarp argued, sitting up a bit, “I want to help!”

“I know, I just--”

Thundercracker was cut off when Starscream let out a small sob. With Starscream’s control over himself having cracked, it took no time at all for it to shatter completely. Within minutes, Starscream was openly sobbing in pain, holding onto Thundercracker like he was the only thing keeping him even somewhat grounded.

Skywarp looked to Knock Out in alarm.

“Can’t you do anything?”

“I told you when I got here, I can’t help him through this.” The medic said, shrugging. “Painkillers won’t work for longer than maybe, what, three minutes? And there’s no way to make the process quicker. Not safely, at least.”

“How long is it going to take?” Skywarp asked, feeling hopeless.

“Roughly three hours.” Knock Out said. “And it’s only going to get worse.”

And get worse it did. One hour passed, one hour of Starscream alternating between sobbing and screaming, one hour of Thundercracker trying and failing to calm him down. Skywarp had started pacing back and forth, the anxiety was getting to be too much. It felt wrong to just let this happen. Knock Out had to be hiding something, this couldn’t be normal! There had to be  _ something _ they could do!

“He’s  _ crying,” _ Skywarp stressed, “You’re saying this is how it goes for everyone?!”

“For roughly 40% of Cybertronians the process is described as the worst pain you’ll ever feel. Worse than the actual emergence of the sparkling.” Knock Out said, frowning. “I know you don’t want to believe me, but he’s in that 40%. Crying and pain is normal.”

“But--”

“Skywarp, his spark is literally  _ splitting apart. _ In no way is that a comfortable or even tolerable experience for anyone.” The medic said, sighing heavily. “This is just how our biology works. It’s why we don’t rely on sparklings as our primary means of reproduction. It’s an overall horrible experience and no one likes it.”

Skywarp wanted to argue that, but he couldn’t. He didn’t have a medical degree or enough knowledge on the subject to even try to debate Knock Out on this. Besides, the only other bot here to have gone through the carrying process was Soundwave and he seemed perfectly calm and unbothered by what Starscream was going through.

“Soundwave, there’s really nothing we can do?” Skywarp asked, desperate.

“Affirmative.” Soundwave said evenly, “Everything Knock Out has stated is correct.”

Skywarp was about to start screaming in frustration, but Soundwave spoke up again before he could. This time, sounding somewhat hesitant.

“Although...there may be one option.”

“What is it?”

“The presence of the sire would provide a sense of ease for Starscream.” Soundwave said carefully. “The pain would not go away, but it would become tolerable.”

“Slightly.” Knock Out quickly cut in, frowning. “It would be  _ slightly _ more tolerable.”

Starscream shifted just enough to look over Thundercracker’s frame over at the other three. He looked exhausted and there was still coolant running down his face but he didn’t seem to care or even register that.

“Megatron can help?” He asked, sounding somewhat out of it. Scratch that, extremely out of it. “He can make the pain go away?”

“It won’t go away. But him being here would technically help, yes.” Knock Out said, clearly not happy this had been brought up. “But that would require Megatron to know about the newspark and come here willingly to help Starscream for the next, what, two hours?”

“Megatron would help if he was told.” Soundwave said.

Knock Out let out a bitter laugh.

“Would he? Would he really?”

“He would.” Soundwave insisted. “Megatron can be trusted.”

Starscream wanted to believe Soundwave. He hadn’t trusted Megatron through this whole process, but now? He just wanted the pain to go away and if that meant trusting Megatron, he was willing to put his well being in Megatron’s hands. What made him hesitate, though, was the newspark. Could he put his newspark’s well being in his hands? Could he trust Megatron with it?

“Thundercracker’s already acting as a surrogate for Megatron in this. No point in rocking the boat, as the humans say.” Knock Out tried, attempting to sound nonchalant but it was painfully obvious he was getting irritated with Soundwave. “Starscream’s coding has already influenced Thundercracker; bringing Megatron in could conflict with that.”

“Only Megatron’s presence will ease Starscream.” Soundwave countered. “Thundercracker may act as a surrogate, but only the true sire’s presence will satisfy the coding.”

“I…” Starscream began, but paused, not sure of exactly what he wanted to say. He wanted the pain to stop, he wanted anything to make this experience easier, more bearable, but did he want Megatron?

“Megatron can help.” Soundwave reiterated.

“Megatron can also take advantage of the situation.” Knock Out finally snapped. “Starscream can’t fight back right now, he can’t protect himself! If Megatron doesn’t react how you want him to then--”

“Then I’ll kill him.” Thundercracker said suddenly.

Starscream felt a warmth in his spark, and this time it didn’t lead to any pain. It was the first bit of true relaxation and comfort he’d felt since this whole thing started. Telling Megatron was a risk, but if it didn’t work out...his trine was there. They wouldn’t let anything happen to his sparkling.

He may be uncertain of whether or not he could trust Megatron with the sparkling, but he knew for sure he could trust his trine.

“I want Megatron.” Starscream found himself saying, not really needing to think about it anymore.

“You’re sure?” Thundercracker asked, concerned.

Starscream’s processor was swimming, but he managed to feel confident when he nodded. Fresh tears welled up in his optics and he dropped his head back to the berth, squeezing his optics shut.

“I can’t do this anymore. I want Megatron.”

“I’ll get him.” Skywarp said, “I can reach him quicker than anyone.”

“Please,” Starscream muttered, not caring how pathetic he sounded. “It hurts.”

That was all Skywarp needed to hear. He teleported without a second thought. He found himself right in front of Megatron’s private quarters just a moment later and realized that, perhaps, he should have asked exactly what to tell Megatron. Maybe he should have brought Soundwave with him… He shook his head. No! He was going to _ help,  _ he was going to get Megatron to agree to help Starscream.

He knocked on the door with all the confidence he could muster. It immediately left him the second the door opened and he was stood face to face with Megatron himself. The warlord did not look happy to have been disturbed.

“What do you want?” Megatron asked, frowning deeply.

Skywarp blinked once, twice.  _ Oh Primus how was he supposed to do this? _

“I--uh--you see…”

Megatron stared at him, allowing him to stumble for a few more seconds before he seemed to get tired of Skywarp’s failed attempts to talk. He shook his head and moved to shut the door, but Skywarp boldly stepped forward and blocked the doorway.

“Wait, wait, this is really important!”

“Then for the love of Primus will you spit it out--”

“Starscream’s sparked!” Skywarp blurted out.

Megatron was not a mech known to be easily shocked, but that definitely did the trick. Skywarp might have laughed at the utterly stunned look on the warlord’s face if the situation had been even slightly different, but right now he definitely didn’t have the desire to laugh at anything. He just wanted to convince Megatron as best he could and get him to Starscream so that things could get better.

“I…” Megatron began, pausing for just a moment. “Excuse me?”

“Starscream’s sparked.” Skywarp said again, feeling his anxiety rise. “And it’s yours…”

Megatron’s optics narrowed into a glare that Skywarp had not been expecting.

“If this is another one of Starscream’s tricks--”

“It isn’t!” The seeker interrupted quickly, “Primus, no, it’s not a trick! He’s sparked and the newspark is dropping and he’s in a lot of pain, but if you’re there it’s supposed to help and--”

“What was that about the newspark?” Megatron snapped, “You mean to tell me the newspark is already at this stage and I’m _just_ _now_ finding out about this?”

Skywarp winced. Oh, this was not going well.

“Well...yeah, but that’s a small detail, right? I mean, shouldn’t you be focusing on the fact you’re gonna be a sire? Like, not a lot of mechs get to say that nowadays. Congratulations, by the way. Though I guess that’s kind of a weird thing to say since there’s a lot going on right now so forget I said that--”

“Skywarp.” Megatron’s tone oozed impatience. “You will tell me everything I  _ need _ to know and nothing else. Do you understand?”

“Yeah, yeah. Uh. So like I said, Starscream is sparked, you’re the sire, the newspark is dropping early. He was totally gonna tell you, he thought he had a few more weeks to figure out how, but it’s happening now and he’s in a lot of pain.” Skywarp hesitated, but pushed on, “He’s hurting real bad, but he’s asking for you…”

“I’m to believe Starscream is asking for me in a moment where he would be extremely vulnerable.” Megatron asked flatly, clearly not believing him.

Skywarp frowned, looking away from him.

“Yeah. You are.” He muttered. “He’s trusting you not to hurt him…”

Megatron’s bitter expression began to soften at that. He’d secretly been hoping for some time now that Starscream would open up to him, begin to truly trust him… He would have preferred different circumstances, but if this is what it took, could he really be mad?

Skywarp looked back up at him with an edge to his optics that Megatron couldn’t ever recall seeing in the seeker.

“He’s not wrong to trust you here, is he?”

For the first time, Megatron felt the reality of the situation set in. Skywarp was serious about everything he’d said. He was also very clearly worried for Starscream, and that knowledge did all sorts of weird things to Megatron’s spark and processor. Megatron carefully took in Skywarp’s posture-- the way he was keeping himself submissive enough to not provoke Megatron but his wings were held just high enough to be considered on guard, the look in his optics was ever so slightly dangerous.

He was willing to fight Megatron if he felt he was a danger to Starscream. It was a fight he would surely lose, but the fact he was willing to try put things into perspective for Megatron.

“I would never harm him or my sparkling.” Megatron said. “I trust you to believe that.”

“...I do.” Skywarp said after a moment, visibly relaxing. “Now can we go to Starscream?”

“...Yes.”

Megatron didn’t have time to react before Skywarp reached out and warped them back to his and Thundercracker’s quarters. They were outside, but Megatron could hear commotion from inside. Being so close to seeing Starscream for the first time in _ days _ made Megatron’s spark pulse in anticipation.

“Ready to meet your sparkling? Or, well, sort of newspark still really, but it’ll be sparkling soon enough…”

“Just open the door Skywarp.”

Skywarp did as told and the door slid open. Soundwave and Knock Out instantly looked towards the doorway, Soundwave’s expression unreadable as usual but Knock Out’s had a bit of caution that Megatron wasn’t sure he liked. He could feel their optics track every one of his movements as he walked into the room, but he paid them no mind. His optics were instead focused on Starscream.

The seeker hadn’t seemed to process his presence yet. He still clung to Thundercracker, once again screaming in pain as his trine mate tried desperately to soothe him. Megatron didn’t think, he just moved towards the berth. Towards Starscream and his sparkling.

He stopped just short of the berth when Thundercracker turned and growled at him, an unfocused look in his optics but his distress just as palpable as Starscream’s. Megatron resisted the instinct to fight, to assert himself as the only mech Starscream needed right now, and instead held his hands up to show he wasn’t a threat.

“Thundercracker. I’m here to help.” He said slowly and carefully.

Thundercracker’s optics cleared from their haze a bit. He studied Megatron carefully, nodding slowly as he seemed to realize just who he was trying to threaten.

“Megatron…?” Starscream’s weak voice rang out, hand lifting aimlessly to try and reach out to him.

“Thundercracker, let me…” Megatron motioned towards the berth.

Thundercracker leaned in close to Starscream, whispering something quietly to him before pulling away and getting off the berth entirely. Megatron took his place without even thinking, quickly wrapping his arms around Starscream and pulling him close. His spark seemed content with the contact.

“Megatron…” Starscream whined, shifting to try to get impossibly closer to Megatron now that he had him.

“I’m here.” Megatron said, “I’m right here.”

Starscream hummed, wincing a bit in pain but at least he wasn’t screaming again. Not yet, at least.

“I was going to tell you.” He said, voice wavering just a bit. “I was.”

“I believe you.” 

He didn’t, but Starscream didn’t need to know that. Not now. He ran a hand comfortingly down Starscream’s backstrut once Starscream began whimpering in pain again. He simply held him through the experience, not needing to speak to give comfort. Starscream seemed glad for it. It took some time, but eventually it seemed the process was wrapping up. Starscream could barely keep his optics open, but he managed, somehow.

He looked up at Megatron, blinking heavily.

“You’re really here…” He murmured.

“I am.” Megatron said, raising an optic ridge. Had Starscream really been that delirious that he hadn’t realized Megatron was actually there? Had he thought it was a dream of some sort?

“...I take it we have a lot to talk about.” Starscream said, studying Megatron’s face carefully. For what, Megatron couldn’t tell.

“We do, but it can wait until tomorrow.”

As much as Megatron wanted answers and he wanted them now, he knew it wouldn’t do good to push Starscream like this. The seeker was barely able to stay awake, plus his trine were still lingering in the room. He was not eager to start a fight right now. He just wanted to lay there with Starscream and his sparkling and let his processor try to figure out how in the Pit this was happening.

Starscream hummed in what Megatron assumed was agreement, but he was already nodding off. Megatron sighed, shifting Starscream more comfortably in his hold.

“You foolish seeker…” He murmured softly.

Things were a bit of a blur after that. Knock Out gave Starscream a quick scan to make sure the separation was a success, then took his leave. Soundwave followed without a word. Thundercracker and Skywarp awkwardly accepted that Megatron would be staying in their room tonight and huddled together on Skywarp’s berth across the room. They spoke to each other in hushed whispers for some time before they seemed to fall into recharge.

Once things were quiet, Megatron was left with his own thoughts. He wondered about how long Starscream had known about the sparkling, how long he’d kept it a secret for, if he’d ever really intended on telling Megatron. He wondered how close he might have been to not knowing about the sparkling altogether.

Megatron looked down at the exhausted seeker in his arms, frowning. He was a part of this now for sure, but would Starscream be able to accept that? Would he trust him enough? He supposed the answer would have to wait, but he found himself hoping things would somehow work out in the end, despite that not always being easy when Starscream was involved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whole lot going on in this chapter and I hope I communicated it all well. Thundercracker is like 500% more protective and ready to throw down because Starscream's coding is influencing him here. If Megatron hadn't gotten involved, Starscream kinda already picked Thundercracker as "sire #2." He's not intentionally being rude to Skywarp, it's just coding and instinct to keep everyone else away once things get going.  
> Also I like to imagine Starscream's screaming in the corner while Soundwave is sitting here like "I've done this like 8 times, weakling." lol
> 
> The process for sparklings I'm using also goes newspark --> newspark splitting and dropping to the gestation chamber --> actual baby being built in the gestation chamber --> emergence. I feel like I should have made this clearer in case someone isn't familiar with this version, I've seen A LOT of different versions of carrying in fics. But yeah! That should wrap this chapter up. Megatron knows now and if you think Starscream was too soft in this chapter, don't worry. He makes up for his lack of dickishness later. He always does.


	12. Chapter 12

Starscream silently observed his reflection in one of the windows of the Nemesis. It wouldn’t be long now before his condition became obvious to anyone who saw him… It was likely any seeker who spotted him could figure it out already, even with the few subtle changes his frame had already undergone in preparation for carrying his sparkling. He frowned, noting the way his plating had shifted, how he was already putting on weight. He supposed it was a good thing Megatron already knew. There was no way he would have been able to hide the truth once the sparkling grew enough.

“Don’t look so sour,” Speak of the devil… Megatron appeared in the corridor, giving Starscream a very obvious once over. “I think you look better than ever.”

“I didn’t ask you.” Starscream said bitterly, turning to face him. “What are you doing lurking in the shadows? Did Ravage tell you I was here?”

“Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t.” Megatron said vaguely, shrugging. “Does it matter? We needed to talk and you’ve been...hard to come by, lately.”

Starscream scowled. Megatron’s words were an understatement. He’d been actively avoiding everybody at all costs. Even his own trine. It had been a week since the newspark had bonded with his frame and began the process of growing into a sparkling. One week since Megatron first found out… He was surprised Megatron wasn’t wringing his neck for avoiding him, honestly.

“Right…” Starscream sighed, “Where to start…”

“Where indeed.”

There was an awkward pause. Starscream wanted this conversation to be over already and it hadn’t even begun. He knew the best thing to do was just come clean about every last detail to Megatron, maybe even ask for his independence in the process and see if Megatron would actually grant him it. But he didn’t want to be the one to make the first move. Not here, not now. Not with this.

“Why didn’t you just tell me?” Megatron asked finally, sounding exhausted all of the sudden.

The question surprised Starscream. It was likely Megatron had ran himself in circles trying to figure it out, but to Starscream the answer was obvious.

“You’d never let me do this how I wanted.” He admitted. “You’d insist on doing this your way...you’d try to take over, or you wouldn’t…” _ Trust me, _ nearly slipped out, but Starscream quickly corrected himself, “You wouldn’t want me involved after I did my part.”

“And how did you want to do this, Starscream?”

Starscream let out a bitter laugh,

“I wanted the sparkling to be born on Cybertron. Away from the war. Away from this blasted planet.”

“And away from me.” Megatron filled in.

“Yes.”

“You distrust me so much with my own sparkling?”

“Of course.” Starscream said evenly. “I don’t trust you with  _ me, _ how can I trust you with my sparkling.”

Megatron frowned deeply, optics narrowing at the seeker. Months ago, now would have been the time he raised his fusion cannon and began a shouting match between the two that would result in Starscream scrambling away with a dented wing at best. But now… Megatron liked to think they’d moved past that. He truly thought they had, despite some hiccups. But apparently he’d been the only one to think that.

“I thought we’d been moving forward in our...relationship. Clearly I thought wrong.”

“Fragging isn’t the same as building trust and liking each other.”

“It isn’t.” Megatron agreed. “And yet I do find myself liking you.”

Starscream paused at that. Had he heard Megatron correctly? There was no way. Megatron couldn’t actually be saying he  _ liked _ Starscream in that way. He wasn’t… He _ couldn’t _ be confessing, not now. Not with the situation the way it was.

“Don’t lie to me.” Starscream said, frowning. “Don’t think that just because I’m carrying your sparkling you get to lie and try to manipulate me--”

“Starscream that isn’t what I’m doing at all.” Megatron said with a bit more force than necessary, “I meant what I said. I do like you, and I’ll say it as many times as I have to in order to get you to understand that.”

Megatron expected Starscream to react dramatically. He expected the seeker to throw a fit, probably threaten him a few times. He did not expect to be met with silence and an unreadable expression. A part of him knew that while on paper, him having feelings for the carrier of his sparkling was great, the simple fact that the carrier was Starscream made things much more complicated.

It was true their relationship hadn’t been remotely productive until recently. They’d taken many shots at each other’s lives in the past, though Megatron liked to think his were more justified. He only ever acted in retaliation, after all. But their past aside, Megatron had begun to see a different side of Starscream. He was still overly prideful and infuriating, but he was skilled, intelligent, and deadly.

It reminded Megatron of what he’d initially liked in Starscream when the war was in its earliest stages. It reminded him why he’d trusted him enough to give him the position of second in command.

“I can’t believe you’re telling me this now.” Starscream said quietly, optics looking anywhere but Megatron’s face. “You don’t get to--”

“I get to tell you whenever I want.” Megatron argued, “And I’m telling you now, I find myself wanting more with you.”

“I don’t feel the same way.” Starscream admitted, closing his optics, “I enjoyed what we had before. I...I liked what we had in the berth. I liked the power that gave me over you. But it was never anything deeper than that. Not really.”

“Could it be?” Megatron asked.

Starscream opened his optics and stared at him, searching his face for something, anything that would expose this as a bad joke, as the manipulative trick he almost  _ wished _ it was. It would be so much easier to turn his back on Megatron if he was trying to use Starscream in some way. But he wasn’t, and Starscream could see that.

“What are you asking me?” He asked instead of answering the question.

“Could your feelings for me change?” Megatron clarified.

“Why would they?” Starscream asked tiredly.

Megatron hummed, keeping any emotional response to that under such tight control that Starscream genuinely couldn’t tell what he was thinking. Was he mad over being rejected? Did this change how he felt towards the sparkling? Starscream found his ability to care was running low.

“I see.” Megatron said finally. “I won’t expect anything from you on that front.”

“Oh goodie.” Starscream snarked.

“But removing that, I do expect you to learn to trust me.”

Starscream couldn’t keep himself from laughing at that even if he wanted to. At first it was just a quick laugh of disbelief, but the more he actually thought about the statement, the more manic his laughter became. Megatron really thought he could win Starscream’s trust, did he?

“You really think it’s that easy?” He asked as his laughter calmed down a bit, “You just show up, confess your love for me, and want me to trust you? No,  _ that _ isn’t going to happen.”

“I give you my word that I will not harm you or the sparkling. Is that not enough for you?”

“Of course it isn’t!” Starscream nearly shouted, “You could get down on one knee and beg me to be your conjunx and it wouldn’t make a difference how I feel. Your word means  _ nothing _ to me. Not when I actually have something to lose.”

“The sparkling is just as much mine as it is yours.” Megatron reminded him, optics narrowing dangerously. “Are you seriously implying I would do something to risk it?”

Starscream wasn’t intimidated in the slightest, wings flaring out as if to dare Megatron to try something.

“I don’t know what you’d do, and that’s the problem!”

Megatron frowned.

“Megatron, this sparkling was an accident. A  _ mistake. _ It’s changing a lot that didn’t need to change, but it doesn’t magically change how I feel about you.” Starscream ranted, wings flicking irritably, “I don’t want to let you be a part of this and have it end up with you taking over everything. I don’t trust you not to do that.”

“Then let me prove you wrong.” Megatron challenged. “You clearly think I’m incapable of respecting your wishes when it comes to this sparkling, so give me a chance to show we can work together on this and both come out feeling satisfied.”

“You act like it will be so easy.”

“We’ve worked well together on the battlefield many times, I don’t see why raising a sparkling would be much different.” Megatron said, shrugging. “I’m going to be a part of my sparkling’s life; that I won’t back down from, but I don’t want you to feel as though I’m taking it away from you.”

Starscream scoffed, rolling his optics.

“Starscream, I mean it. I want this to work for  _ both _ of us.”

Starscream considered it for a minute. He wasn’t happy with it, but Megatron was at least trying not to come across as forceful. How long that effort would last was a different story… Starscream sighed, long and heavy. He hated that he actually was beginning to believe Megatron…

“You get one chance.” He conceded, “One. If you start to try and take over, or if you give me reason to believe you’re going to take this sparkling from me… I’ll kill you.”

Megatron raised an optic ridge, amused.

“I’ll do my best not to give you reason to take such drastic measures.”

“You will.” Starscream said, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring up at Megatron, “You’ll show me you’re serious about doing this _ together  _ or I will make sure you have no part in raising this sparkling.”

A part of Megatron would like to see just how he intended on following through with that threat, but he knew better than to poke at Starscream right now. The best thing to do was simply nod and agree with him, so he did exactly that.

“Alright. I find these terms acceptable.”

“Good. It’s the best offer you’re going to get.”

Megatron bit back a smirk. Starscream really was something else.

“It’s a deal then.”

Starscream hummed and nodded, clearly pleased with himself. Unfortunately, his moment of victory only lasted a moment before he heard voices approaching from one of the halls. He frowned, wings drooping low. He wasn’t ready for the other seekers to see him like this.

“I should get going,” He said quickly, turning to leave without another word.

He was quickly stopped by Megatron.

“We still have a lot to discuss, Starscream.” Megatron said, blocking Starscream’s exit route.

“I’m sure we do. But I’m tired right now; I’d rather go back to my trine’s quarters and recharge. You’ve taken enough of my energy for one day.”

The voices were getting louder, whoever it was coming closer. Starscream’s wings drooped low. He hoped Megatron would take the hint and just let him go, but the stupid brute didn’t move an inch.

“How about you come recharge in my quarters?” Megatron offered.

“Excuse me?” Starscream asked, blinking in surprise.

“My berth is bigger. Softer. You’ve expressed your liking of it many times in the past.”

Alright, so maybe that was true… Megatron’s berth was far more comfortable than Thundercracker’s...and he’d have a lot more space to stretch out on instead of crowding himself against the wall so he could make room for Thundercracker or Skywarp. And Starscream  _ did _ miss lounging around in Megatron’s obnoxiously large berth…

“You know I’m not interested in you.” Starscream reminded him, hoping this wasn’t some poor attempt at trying to seduce him. Well, he might still be seduced into continuing their physical relationship, but a romantic one? Not so easily accomplished.

“I’m aware of that, and I accept that. This isn’t some trick,” Megatron said, seeming sincere enough, “I want you to be comfortable.”

“Well...your berth _ is _ rather comfortable.”

“It is.” Megatron said, amused at how quickly Starscream was caving. “And when you wake, we can continue discussing just exactly how we’ll raise our sparkling. This way I won’t have to wait another week to run into you.”

Starscream sighed and nodded, motioning for Megatron to lead the way to his quarters.

“Yes, yes, we’ll talk all about the sparkling. But first, I’m sleeping for at  _ least _ ten hours. Now get a move on,”

Megatron rolled his optics, but did begin walking. Just in time-- Starscream was out of sight just as whatever gaggle of seekers had rounded the corner. Starscream kept close to Megatron as they walked, effortlessly keeping up with the larger mech’s stride. He didn’t notice the small smile on his face, and if he realized how at peace he felt being by Megatron’s side, he didn’t acknowledge it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Starscream stop being a player hater. These two idiots trying to agree how to raise their sparkling has been one of the main things I've wanted to write and I'm happy to finally be approaching the topic a bit. Also sorry this took a while to update! Stress and writers block are a bitch, but I'm back!


	13. Chapter 13

It had been a few days since Megatron and Starscream had come to their agreement. Starscream was keeping true to his word and actually letting Megatron have a chance at showing he could be a part of the sparkling’s life and not ruin everything. Megatron was on his best behavior to ensure he didn’t set Starscream off and make the seeker fully reject him. It had been going better than anyone expected, though that was largely due to Megatron’s efforts.

Though, while things had been going well, today might be the day they both snapped and ruined everything by the looks of it. The pair were going through some datapads Soundwave had gifted them. They were loaded with files on proper sparkling care and the early years of sparkling development. Very detailed, very precise, and obviously fact checked through Soundwave’s own personal experiences as a creator of many.

At some point, something had obviously rubbed Starscream the wrong way and his mood had steadily dropped until he seemed close to snapping entirely. Megatron had been trying to work around it, but it was getting unbearable. He was beginning to regret rejecting Starscream’s suggestion of having his trine present while they read through the datapads. Thundercracker’s presence at the least might have kept Starscream in check…

“All of this is useless.” Starscream muttered, tossing a datapad aside carelessly. “I’m not incompetent. I can figure this out without his help.”

“Starscream, he’s trying to help us. It will be easier if we do what the datapads say.” Megatron said, trying very hard to keep an even tone.

Starscream seemed unamused. He rolled his optics and shook his head.

“Yes, because _ Soundwave _ is raising my sparkling now so his word means  _ everything.” _ He spat, “Are you actually reading some of these tips? They aren’t applicable to--well--”

Starscream huffed, throwing his hands up in frustration. He looked at Megatron, clearly expecting him to agree to whatever arbitrary issue the seeker had. Megatron hummed in lieu of answering and tried to skim over the file they’d been reviewing. Clearly, something had set Starscream off. Maybe if he figured out what it was, he could diffuse the situation before it got any worse.

“If you’re worried about the instructions not being applicable because of the nature of the cassettes, that doesn’t seem to be an issue…” Megatron said as he read, “These are well in line with what I’ve seen from the files I had Knock Out send me on sparkling care.”

“That isn’t the problem, dolt.”

Megatron glared at the seeker for a moment before looking back down at the file. The section was reviewing helping the sparkling walk, how to assist them in transforming for the first time, the importance of transforming during the early stages of their childhood. Nothing jumped out at Megatron as an issue, but then he realized of course it wouldn’t. The issue wasn’t what was written, it was what the file was lacking in.

“You’re upset there’s nothing about flight.”

Starscream stayed silent, but the slight droop in his wings told Megatron he’d guessed right. He sighed, setting the file aside and giving Starscream his full attention now.

“Soundwave has Laserbeak, I’m sure he can answer any questions you may have about teaching the sparkling to fly.”

“You’re acting like Soundwave made a  _ mistake _ in not including it in the first place.” Starscream said, frowning. “He excluded it for a reason. Your coding is dominant. There’s no need to include information on something so unlikely.”

The way Starscream said it was like he was reading statistics from some science paper he’d worked on, but it was laced with a bit of sadness Megatron hadn’t expected.

“You’re upset that it isn’t likely you’ll have a seeker.” He realized, “It isn’t written in stone--”

“It might as well be.”

“What is the likelihood of it being a seeker?” Megatron asked.

“Roughly 15%.” Starscream said, sighing. “That’s being generous.”

“And what was the likelihood of you getting sparked in the first place?”

Starscream gave him a curious look.

“Just under 1%.”

Megatron nodded.

“Nothing is impossible, then.” He said, “You may have a seeker yet.”

Starscream hummed and crossed his arms over his chest, somewhat protectively. He seemed to consider Megatron’s words. His wings flicked while he thought carefully of what to say next.

“And say I do have a seeker… What then?”

“I don’t follow.”

“Won’t that upset you?” Starscream asked, “It won’t be some heavy ground pounder like you. It’s unlikely it will take much from you physically, if it’s a seeker. That doesn’t make you mad?”

“No, not really.” Megatron admitted, “I haven’t had much time to think about what I want the sparkling to be like. I never thought of myself having one, so the thought simply...never crossed my mind. Now that it  _ is _ happening...I feel I’ll be content with whatever it does end up like.”

“How eloquently put.” Starscream snarked, “And here I thought you’d prefer a little clone of yourself. Good to know you won’t reject it if it comes out red.”

“Would you?”

“Excuse me?”

“Would you reject it if it isn’t what you want?”

Starscream frowned. He seemed offended by the question, and rightfully so, but still Megatron did feel it needed to be asked.

“It’s a little late for me to reject it, isn’t it?” Starscream said. His expression melted just a bit, and when he spoke next he sounded almost guilty. “I wouldn’t reject it, never, but I… I wanted a seeker. Not that I would know what to do with one. But of course I’d _ want _ one. In theory I could bond with it easier… If it’s a grounder, I’d be...disappointed.”

The admission didn’t come without hesitance. Starscream knew it was a risk to admit such a thing, but it was the truth and Megatron likely would have figured that out without him needing to say it aloud.

Oddly enough, Megatron could understand. While he himself didn’t care much what alt mode his sparkling would take, he knew better than to expect Starscream not to have hopes and expectations. Beyond that, it would be easier for Starscream to bond with a seeker than a grounder. He would be able to be that much more involved in its development, something he was clearly afraid of being unable to have much say in.

“You’re awful quiet.” Starscream muttered, looking away from the warlord.

“I’m just considering what you’ve said, that’s all.”

“Is this when you try to call me an unfit carrier?” The seeker wondered aloud.

Megatron shook his head.

“No. I think it’s good you can be honest with me about this. I believe you when you say you wouldn’t reject the sparkling and that’s all I need to be certain of.”

Starscream glanced at him, cautious but seeming to relax a bit all the same.

“Yes, well, despite what many think of me, I do have it in me to care for others.” In very specific and rare circumstances, sure, but this did qualify as one of those. “Either way, we’ll know next week what it is.”

“Oh?”

“Knock Out said it should be developed just enough that we can determine its alt mode type.” Starscream said, “I’m not going to get my hopes up, but if it is a seeker then maybe this was worth it.”

Megatron hadn’t realized they would be able to tell so soon. It was almost exciting to be so close to a major development already. Just a few weeks ago, he’d never imagined himself in this position, but now that he was? He couldn’t recall the last time he’d felt such genuine joy towards something.

The war had been his primary focus for so many years now. This sparkling was new life, something he’d taken part in creating. He didn’t even try to hide the smile the thought brought out.

“Don’t look so excited.” Starscream said, rolling his optics and reaching for his previously discarded datapad. “It’s almost scary to see you smile.”

“Shut it, seeker.”

Starscream let out a small laugh, obviously not intimidated. Good, Megatron thought, it was nice to see Starscream be so unguarded after their last few encounters. There were a few moments of comfortable silence as the two began reviewing Soundwave’s notes once more.

Megatron allowed himself to get lost in thought as he read. Sparklings were such fragile creatures, it seemed. It made sense, of course. They were tiny, incapable of defending themselves. Entirely reliant on their creators. It would take some getting used to for Megatron. He was so accustomed to the life the war had brought where everything was unforgiving and harsh. His sparkling would be the opposite of everything he’d come to know. It would be completely innocent in this war.

It was...hard to think about.

He hoped to be able to protect his sparkling from the cruel realities of the war, even if it was just for a little while. He hoped he would be able to provide whatever his sparkling needed to grow big and strong, so he wouldn’t have to worry so much.

The thought made him pause.

He worried so much for his sparkling's safety already, and it wasn’t even born yet. He knew nothing about it; it had no name, no alt mode, and yet it was quickly becoming something Megatron knew he would fight for. He would eradicate armies and burn cities to the ground for this sparkling. For his heir. And something told him Starscream would do the same. For now, that was enough for him. It eased his worries about his sparkling’s future knowing that, despite all other complications, he and Starscream would always be on the same page about protecting it if nothing else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I'm sorry its been a while, but so much has been going on lately and I got very sick so I wasn't able to write for a while. But I'm back now and so excited to continue writing this story! Next chapter especially I'm excited for. I'm finally getting to the part where I can reveal the sparkling's altmode and name! :D


	14. Chapter 14

Today was the day. Starscream would be finding out the frame type of his sparkling soon. He tried to ignore the anxiety that was building up as they got closer and closer to his appointment with Knock Out. The boring war meeting he’d insisted on partaking in would be over any minute now and then it was straight to the medbay…

Megatron seemed perfectly calm. Starscream hated how composed he was. Wasn’t he worried something was horribly wrong with the sparkling? What if it was too big or too small? What if it wasn’t receiving enough nutrients? Or worse, what if it somehow gained a sports car altmode? The thought sent shivers down Starscream’s spinal strut.

He eyed Megatron from where he sat, looking up from glaring at his datapad for the first time in a while. In truth, he hadn’t been paying attention to a word Megatron said since the meeting began. He’d only insisted on coming because if he’d been left alone with his thoughts he would have driven himself insane, but the meeting wasn’t proving to be a good distraction at all.

Megatron was going on about the next planned attack on the city of Detroit, some scheme to draw the Autobots out and “crush Optimus Prime for good” as if he hadn’t said that a million times before and failed. Thundercracker and Skywarp would be leading the air assault on the Autobots. Starscream tried not to make a face at that.

He must have failed, judging by the frown Thundercracker shot his way. He didn’t care. He couldn’t change that he was unable to fight. He’d just have to hope Thundercracker and Skywarp didn’t accidentally blow each other up during the battle. He sighed, setting his datapad down and attempting to look focused on Megatron’s words.

He was wrapping up the meeting. Good. Starscream didn’t know how much longer he could sit here and pretend like he cared.

“That will be all. I expect you all to be prepared when the time comes.” Megatron said, officially wrapping up the meeting and turning to Soundwave, most likely to discuss the finer details of the plan. Thundercracker moved to join them, leaving Starscream sitting alone for the time being.

Starscream knew he made a face this time. He should be there, talking about that stupid plan with Megatron. Not Thundercracker, not Soundwave. Him.

“Looking good, Screamer.” Starscream heard a voice say.

He turned his head to find Dirge and his trine standing not too far away, the three of them seeming close to laughter. He knew he was showing at this point. His...predicament, was obvious. And the fact that the Dirge and his trine dared to poke fun at him for it? It made his blood boil.

Before he could claw someone’s eyes out, Skywarp appeared at his side.

“Right? He’s never looked better, in my opinion.” Skywarp was saying, a tense smile plastered on his face. “It's amazing what can happen when you have a functioning trine. You make little miracles-- not that you three would know anything about that.”

Ramjet frowned at that, stepping forward to say something, but Dirge held him back.

“More like little liabilities.” Thrust offered.

“Is that what you think?” Starscream asked, amused. “I’m not sure his sire would agree.”

“Oh please.” Ramjet said, rolling his optics. “Who’s is it? Thundercracker’s? He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“You wish it were Thundercracker’s.” Starscream smirked. “Think bigger.”

He nodded in the direction of Megatron and the others. It took a moment, but realization dawned on the trine all at once. Thrust and Ramjet shared a panicked look, while Dirge stared at Megatron in shock.

“No. No way.” Dirge said. “You’re lying.”

“Am I?” The red seeker pushed up off his chair and waltzed over to Megatron, fully aware all optics were on him. He placed a hand on Megatron’s arm, pulling his attention away from the conversation with Thundercracker and Soundwave.

The first thing Dirge noticed was how Megatron did _not_ look mad or irritated to have been interrupted. He looked perfectly calm and, _oh Primus,_ almost happy to be talking to Starscream? He watched as the pair exchanged a few words before Megatron nodded in agreement with whatever Starscream was saying. _This was a dream, right? A very, very bad dream…_

Dirge looked over to Skywarp, not missing the incredibly smug look on the purple seeker’s face.

“So, want me to tell Megatron you called his _heir_ a, what was it, little liability?” Skywarp asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“No, no… We’re uh, gonna go.” Dirge rambled, already heading for the door, Thrust and Ramjet following right behind him.

Skywarp let out a small laugh as he watched them run away. Well, that would pretty much take care of any and all infighting involving Starscream. For a while, at least. He hummed, walking over to Megatron and his trine. He noted Starscream had decided to take it up a notch and was now openly holding Megatron’s hand. Megatron seemed unbothered.

Skywarp whistled,

“Well, well. You two are being awful cute.”

“Shut up, it’s just carrier protocols acting up.” Starscream claimed, glaring at Skywarp.

Megatron smirked knowingly.

“I’m sure it is. Which is why your protocols only act up in public, hmm?” He questioned.

Starscream went stiff, but made no move to pull away. Megatron didn’t move either, Skywarp noticed. Instead he gave Starscream’s hand a gentle squeeze.

“You were right to remind me of the appointment, Starscream.” Megatron said, changing the subject, “We should be on our way. Any other details about the battle plans can be discussed later.”

“Work can wait until later?” Skywarp asked, “I think I like this side of you. Starscream you should get knocked up more often!”

Starscream lashed out, trying to claw at Skywarp, but the purple seeker dodged him expertly, laughing all the while. Megatron sighed, rolling his optics.

“Starscream and Soundwave are excused from their duties. You and Thundercracker are still expected to be at your stations on time.”

Skywarp’s wings dropped instantly, going flat against his back.

“What?! You can’t be serious.” He complained.

Thundercracker tried to reach out to him to calm him, but Skywarp swatted his hand away,

“You’re finding out what the sparkling looks like, you can’t tell us to just leave!”

“This is private,” Megatron tried, but clearly that had been the wrong thing to say.

“Not for a seeker, it isn’t.” Skywarp whined. “Starscream, tell him!”

Starscream shifted uncomfortably where he stood. He’d assumed Skywarp and Thundercracker would be there, mostly because they were annoying and stuck to him like leeches, but it was true that in seeker culture, trines were very involved in every part of the carrying process. Mostly because trine’s normally sparked one another, but still.

“For once, he’s not lying to get out of working.” Starscream said. “They’re a part of this, whether I like it or not, and now you get to put up with them, too. Congratulations.”

“I see.” Megatron said. “I suppose I’ll...learn to get used to it.”

Skywarp looked from Starscream to Megatron,

“That means we can come, right?”

“Yes, it does.” The warlord conceded. “...I’ll need a refresher on just how involved a seeker’s trine is expected to be during this process. I would hope that during emergence--”

“Oh don’t worry, he’s all yours for that!” Skywarp said, laughing. “Look, we want to be here for Starscream during this whole thing, but _that?_ We don’t _want_ to be there for that. We value our lives and we’re not stupid--”

Starscream smacked him on the arm, glaring.

“One more word, Skywarp. One. More. Word.”

Thundercracker cleared his vocalizer and interrupted quickly,

“Shouldn’t we get going? Knock Out’s probably waiting for us…”

“Thundercracker is right.” Megatron said, nodding. “Soundwave, comm Dirge and Thrust and tell them to be there for Skywarp and Thundercracker’s shift.”

“Affirmative.”

With that, the group made their way to the medbay. Starscream was beginning to feel more like this was a party rather than a check up, but he was thankful for his trine’s presence all the same. What he wasn’t thankful for, was Soundwave trailing them.

“Is there a reason he’s coming?” Starscream asked Megatron, clearly unhappy.

“Knock Out requested he be there.”

Starscream was going to strangle the medic when he no longer had use for him…

“Of course…”

“Soundwave’s been here for everything else so far, might as well keep with tradition.” Skywarp added.

“He’s been here entirely against my will.” Starscream snapped. “Can’t you be quiet until we get there? You’re giving me a helmache.”

Megatron was beginning to gather Skywarp had very selective listening skills. The seeker acted like he hadn’t heard Starscream’s request at all and kept rambling the rest of the way. Thundercracker shot Starscream an apologetic look, but didn’t try to keep Skywarp from babbling. Megatron wished he would have, in all honesty.

Once the door for the medbay came into view, Skywarp finally quieted down. It seemed the weight of the check up was finally sinking in for everyone. Starscream tried not to let his own anxieties show. He held his wings high and opened the door, deciding to face this head on.

Knock Out and Breakdown were already there, readying the equipment needed for the check up.

“I see you brought the cavalry.” Knock Out said, raising a brow at the group.

“There weren’t any open windows to push Skywarp though,” Starscream said, shrugging. He ignored the offended ‘Hey!’ from his trinemate.

“I expected as much. You can make yourself comfortable,” Knock Out said, motioning towards a medberth, “I’ll be ready in just a second.”

Starscream did as told, walking to the berth and lying on it, but he found he wasn’t comfortable at all. This was suddenly a lot to take in. Megatron moved to his side wordlessly, and took his hand once more.

“It’s a simple check up.” Megatron reminded him.

“What if it isn’t simple.” Starscream began, unable to stop himself, “What if something is _wrong_ and--”

“And? We’ll handle it.”

Starscream stared up at him for a moment before nodding. He hated how Megatron’s words worked to ease his worries, even if it was just by a little bit. One thing stuck out to him though. Megatron had said ‘we’. He was implying he would stick through this with Starscream if something did go wrong. He would never admit it, but it calmed him and maybe, just maybe, warmed his spark ever so slightly.

“Well aren’t you two adorable.” Knock Out commented as he approached with a device in his hand.

Starscream quickly ripped his hand away from Megatron’s.

“Can we just hurry?” He snapped.

The medic hummed, readying the device for whatever its purpose was. Starscream saw Thundercracker and Skywarp waiting patiently on a medberth a few feet away, and Soundwave standing near the other equipment with Breakdown. If something went horribly wrong...at least he wasn’t alone.

“I’m going to use this to scan your gestation chamber.” The medic explained, “After that, I’ll hook it up to the monitor back there to get a clearer picture. I’ll be able to determine the sparkling’s altmode and see if it’s growing at a healthy rate. Soundwave will tell me if we need to be alarmed about anything. Are you ready?”

“Just get it over with.”

Knock Out wordlessly began. He passed the scanner over Starscream a few times before going back to Soundwave and Breakdown. As the picture began to clear for them, Knock Out seemed surprised over something. Starscream instinctively tried to get up and demand to know what was wrong, but Megatron reached out quickly and gently held him down,

“Megatron--” Starscream began, but Megatron cut him off.

“Whatever happens, whatever they find, we will handle it. It will be ok, I promise you I will _make_ it ok.”

Starscream squeezed his optics shut and forced himself to nod and lay back against the berth. He took a deep breath before he opened his optics and looked back to Knock Out and Soundwave. The pair were talking quietly, but Starscream could tell from Knock Out’s expression something unexpected had happened. Soundwave pointed at the monitor and must have had an answer for whatever Knock Out had found. The medic nodded in response.

Breakdown leaned over from behind Knock Out to get a look and seemed...absolutely mesmerized by whatever was on the screen. If the sparkling was horribly disfigured or some other awful thing had happened, Breakdown would have looked disgusted, right?

After a moment, Knock Out turned back to Megatron and Starscream.

“Alright, you can come see now.”

Starscream was up and halfway there before he could finish the sentence. Breakdown and Soundwave backed away to make space for Starscream and Megatron, and Starscream could hear Thundercracker and Skywarp approaching as well.

Starscream saw the monitor before any of them. He felt a thousand emotions all at once when he laid eyes on the screen. There, clearly pictured, were two tiny seeker sparklings. He could tell they had a lot of growing to do, but there were the unmistakable little nubs that would grow into wings one day. He let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding.

They were perfect.

They were absolutely _perfect._

“Oh Primus, Star,” Skywarp’s voice came from behind him, and in an instant he felt his trinemate excitedly wrapping his arms around him. “You’re having seekers! Look at them, they’re...they’re so…!”

“They’re so small…” Megatron said, optics glued to the screen.

Thundercracker leaned over Skywarp’s wing to get a better look and smiled.

“They are...it’s kind of cute.” He said softly.

Skywarp let out a noise of pure excitement, letting Starscream go and turning back to the monitor.

“You can see where their wings will grow! Look!” He pointed to the little nubs on the sparkling’s backs.

Starscream brought a hand to his abdomen, but never once looked away from the screen. His sparklings, his two precious seekers, pictured so clearly on the screen. Reality was hitting him like a two ton semi truck, but through it all he felt such _joy._ He couldn’t keep himself from smiling.

For the first time, he looked at Megatron. He was not prepared for the expression on the warlord’s face.

He looked…soft. Like he already loved them more than anything in the world.

“Well?” Starscream prompted.

“They’re perfect. Both of them.” Megatron said, voice dripping with affection.

“It was to be expected.” Starscream said smugly, “They _are_ mine after all.”

“Glad to see you’re both pleased.” Knock Out said, smirking. “You’ll be happy to know they’re both perfectly healthy and growing at a normal rate.”

Megatron nodded, ready to comment on how that was wonderful news, but something caught his optic. There was something else in the picture, just a little hard to make out.

“What is this?” He inquired, pointing to it.

“Oh, you’re going to love this.” Knock Out said, “Soundwave and I believe it’s another sparkling, it just began forming a little later than the other two. So congratulations, Starscream, it would seem you’re well on your way to having a trine.”

“A trine?!” Starscream and Skywarp exclaimed at the same time. Skywarp looked thrilled, but Starscream was clearly taken aback by the news.

“Two is one thing, but can I even fit three inside of me?!” Starscream asked.

“Seeker sparklings are small from what I’ve gathered. They’ll fit just fine.” Knock Out informed him, though he clearly enjoyed Starscream’s sudden distress if the grin on his face was anything to go by.

“What will that even do to my frame?”

“Oh, horrible things, I bet.” The medic answered sarcastically. “You’ll get big, and then it’ll go back to normal. A small sacrifice, if you ask me.”

Starscream glared at him, but didn’t disagree.

Megatron seemed to be handling the news ever so slightly better.

“A trine… I never could have imagined I would sire a trine one day,” Megatron admitted.

“It seemed to be rare, even before the war.” Knock Out said. “But it would seem Starscream is some form of miracle worker.”

“You’re always going on about how special you are, Screamer.” Skywarp said, nudging Starscream. “Now you really are! Congrats!”

“If the third one began forming later, will it be fully grown by the time it emerges?” Megatron asked suddenly.

Starscream paused. He hadn’t considered that.

“It will likely be small for a seeker, but it should be healthy in time for emergence, yes.” Knock Out explained, “Worst comes to worst, it’ll stop growing and the material used for its frame will just go to the other two sparklings. That being said, it’s already grown enough for me to think that won’t be the case.”

“Then we plan for three.” Megatron said, nodding.

Starscream smiled at his side.

They didn’t stay much longer-- Knock Out had other things to do, but Starscream had made sure he memorized every last detail of the picture before he left. Skywarp and Thundercracker headed back to their quarters, and at first Starscream began to follow them, but… Well, maybe he was feeling a little sentimental after learning about his sparklings.

“I’ll see you two later. I’m going with Megatron tonight.” He announced, shocking both his trine and the silver mech,

“Oh. Sure, yeah, that sounds like a good idea.” Thundercracker fumbled for words, but tried to sound reassuring all the same. “You two...have fun.”

“But not too much fun--!” Skywarp began, but Thundercracker slapped a hand over his mouth before he could say anything too embarrassing.

“Have fun.” He said lamely as he dragged his trinemate away.

Starscream waited for them to be out of sight before he turned to face Megatron.

“You don’t have to, Starscream.” Megatron said, a confused look on his face.

“I know. I want to.” The seeker said, “Besides, your berth is better and my wings are sore from today.”

Megatron nodded and led the way to his quarters. A comfortable silence took over the pair as they walked inside and got comfortable on the berth. Starscream had been spending more time in Megatron’s room lately, but Megatron had always made sure to keep his distance. Tonight, that caution seemed to be thrown out the window.

Boldly, Megatron decided to lay right next to Starscream. It seemed to be the right thing to do, as Starscream instantly moved even closer, throwing an arm over the warlord to keep him as close as possible. Megatron wrapped an arm around his waist, humming.

“Today was good.” Starscream mumbled.

“It was.” Megatron agreed.

“...You’re really ok with...them.”

“Them” being the tiny trine Starscream was carrying, no doubt.

“Of course I am. The only thing I have issue with is finding appropriate names for all three of them.” Megatron said, his attempt at humor falling a little flat but Starscream huffed out a laugh all the same.

“You ought to leave their designations to me.” Starscream said, shifting a bit in Megatron’s hold to get more comfortable. “...I had one in mind already, actually.”

“Oh?”

“I thought of it a long time ago. I was prepared to fight for it, if the sparkling ended up being a grounder. It’s a seeker name, but… I wanted it anyway.”

“Do share.”

“Skybreak. One of them should be named Skybreak.”

“Skybreak.” Megatron repeated. “It’s a good name.”

“I’m so glad you approve.” Starscream said sarcastically, “Since you think it’s a ‘good name’ I’ll take that as it’s non negotiable. One will be named Skybreak.”

Megatron sighed and simply accepted it.

“Skybreak it is.”

Starscream smiled to himself and let his optics slip shut. Since that was settled, he allowed himself to relax fully in Megatron’s hold. Despite all of his anxiety from earlier, he couldn’t help but feel as though the day had ended out perfectly. He was able to slip into recharge within minutes, managing to feel confident and genuinely happy since this whole thing had started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ignite now comes with added Coneheads, for the soul <3  
> So excited to be posting this chapter! This is one I've pretty much had planned since the very beginning!


	15. Chapter 15

“Skyswoop.”

“No.”

“Shockblast?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Mega--”

“If you finish that suggestion, I’ll weld your mouth shut.”

Skywarp huffed and pouted, but to his credit he did stay quiet. Starscream sighed and closed his optics, hoping that would put an end to Skywarp’s attempts at helping him pick sparkling names for a while. He never should have told him that he and Megatron had agreed on a designation already. Now Skywarp was determined to help, and all of his suggestions were absolutely _ horrible _ in Starscream’s opinion.

“What about Thunderwarper.”

Starscream opened his optics just enough to glare at him.

“This is  _ my _ sparkling, not yours and Thundercracker’s. No.”

“Purple Haze?”

“We don’t even know what their colors will be yet.”

“Hmm...Doomcrackle?”

“Primus forbid you ever have a sparkling of your own.” Starscream muttered, running a hand over his face tiredly. “The answer is no. All of these are terrible, Skywarp.”

Skywarp scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

“How about Star _ whiner.” _

“Oh very funny.” Starscream said dryly. “Are you done?”

“Since you don’t appreciate my genius, yeah, I’m calling it quits. Name your sparkling something  _ ugly  _ for all I care.” Skywarp said, shrugging. He leaned back on his berth across the room from where Starscream was settled on Thundercracker’s.

Megatron had offered Starscream his quarters while he went about his day, but Starscream had opted to spend time with his trine instead. He’d wanted the comfort of being with his trine, but now that he was here he was beginning to regret caving to that urge.

“I bet TC would have some good ideas.” Skywarp said absentmindedly. “I mean we never really talked about something like a sparkling, but he’s the type that would be prepared for one if it came to it, I think.”

Starscream hummed. Thundercracker was far more sentimental than him or Skywarp. Certainly more than Megatron.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s thought of it. Naming a sparkling, that is.” Starscream said. “Even if he hasn’t, I don’t doubt his suggestions would be better than  _ yours.” _

“Oww, mean.” The purple seeker whined, frowning. “Well he’ll be back any minute now and we can test that theory. I still think Doomcrackle is a winner, though.”

Starscream sighed heavily, preparing himself to yell at Skywarp to drop it, but in that moment the door slid open. Thundercracker’s timing was perfect as usual. He walked in, giving his trinemates a curious look as the door slid shut behind him.

“Why do I feel like you two were arguing?” Thundercracker asked hesitantly.

“We weren’t. Yet.” Skywarp said, smirking. “Screamer and Megatron picked a name for one of their sparklings and I, being the _ amazing _ trinemate I am, tried to help him think of some ideas for the other two.”

“His ideas were horrible!”

“Shockblast wasn’t that bad.” Skywarp defended.

“It’s the least offensive but that doesn’t mean I like it.” Starscream said, frowning.

“TC, he’s so ungrateful.”

Thundercracker rolled his optics and walked over to Skywarp’s berth, sitting down next to where the purple seeker was currently sprawled out. Almost immediately, Skywarp rolled onto his side so he could better look at Thundercracker. He smiled up at the blue seeker.

“Good shift?”

Thundercracker nodded.

“Megatron was in a suspiciously good mood. It made things easier.”

“Oh? Maybe Starscream should spend the night with him more often.” Skywarp said, sending a wink Starscream’s way.

Starscream’s wings flicked in irritation and he narrowed his optics.

“Nothing happened between me and Megatron--”

“Didn’t say something did. But thanks for totally exposing yourself.” Skywarp laughed.

“Nothing happened!! We aren’t even-- it isn’t like that!”

“Then what’s it like Screamer? If you two aren’t turning each other’s crankshaft, then what’s going on between you two?”

Starscream faltered. It really wasn’t Skywarp’s business what his relationship with Megatron was like, but it didn’t help that Starscream didn’t have a solid answer to give in the first place. They were supposed to be raising the sparklings as...well, as partners, yes, but not  _ romantic _ partners. But...Starscream wasn’t sure that’s the path he was staying on.

Megatron had been working with him lately, showing him a much better side of himself than he had in the past. And the way Megatron had reacted to seeing the sparklings, even if they were still oddly shaped and not completely formed yet, it had moved something inside Starscream. He knew Megatron had feelings for him and while before he’d felt he could never return those feelings, recent events were beginning to suggest otherwise.

It wasn’t impossible, Starscream was realizing. But was it the right choice? Was it what he really wanted?

“It’s complicated.” Starscream mumbled, after a moment.

“Of course,” Skywarp said, sighing. “Isn’t everything complicated with you?”

Starscream frowned.

“I think what Skywarp means to say, is that maybe this doesn’t need to be that complicated.” Thundercracker offered.

“The sire of my sparklings is not only our leader, but a mech I’ve spent a good amount of my life trying to dethrone and kill. How can this not be complicated?”

“When you put it that way…” The blue seeker trailed off.

“Just say you like him and he’ll get over it.” Skywarp suggested. “I don’t think you know about the way he looks at you when he thinks no one is looking, or how I don’t think I’ve seen him smile unless you’re around, at least that’s how it is since he’s found out about the sparklings. He likes you.”

Starscream shifted uncomfortably.

“I’m...aware. He told me as much.” He finally admitted. “We had a discussion about it.”

Skywarp shot up, optics wide.

“And?! What did you say?!” He demanded to know. “Well!”

What he’d said was perfectly clear in his mind. He’d accused Megatron of lying and trying to manipulate him. Megatron insisted his feelings were genuine and Starscream rejected him. _ I can’t believe you’re telling me this now,  _ He’d said.  _ I don’t feel the same way. _ He cringed a bit at the memory. He’d been so sure back then. And yet now…

“I told him I wasn’t interested.” Starscream said, trying to sound confident and proud, but he was almost sure he’d failed at that.

“Why?!”

“I wasn’t, back then.” It hadn’t been too long since then, just a few weeks, but things were changing so quickly, his view of Megatron was becoming vastly different in comparison to what it had been like even just a month ago.

“But now you aren’t sure.” Thundercracker realized.

Starscream didn’t know what to say to that. Thundercracker was right, of course, as loathe as Starscream was to admit it, he usually was. Thundercracker knew him well. He knew Skywarp even better. He was the one who put the most effort into being a real trine, and it paid off...though sometimes Starscream wished he would keep his observations to himself.

“It doesn’t matter.” Starscream muttered. “I already made my choice.”

“That doesn’t mean your feelings can’t change, though.” Skywarp said, giving Starscream a curious look. “I know you’re weird and you don’t do things the way normal bots do, but if you want to be with Megatron, then go for it. You’d both be happier.”

“How can you be certain of that?” The red seeker asked, mildly annoyed. “I don’t know if I want him in that way. If I say I do and then change my mind, then what--”

“Then you tell Megatron and things go back to how they are now.” Thundercracker provided. “I know you’re worried about what he’ll do. But you said he likes you, right? Then he won’t hurt you if you change your mind or if things don’t go the way you wanted them to.”

Starscream sighed heavily and flopped backwards onto the berth. He glared at the ceiling as he considered Thundercracker’s words. There were so many possibilities, so many ways for things to go wrong. If he pursued a romance with Megatron and it soured… Well, the worst case scenario wasn’t pretty. But his trinemate had a point.  _ Megatron _ confessed to him  _ first. _ Megatron’s feelings ran deeper than Starscream’s for sure, currently. If it went wrong, his pesky feelings should be enough to prevent the worst case scenario from ever happening.

“I hate it when you’re right…” He said tiredly. “Alright, say I do talk to Megatron about my potential... _ feelings.  _ What then?”

“Then you two decide if you take it slow or enter a courtship.”

“I vote courtship.” Skywarp added in.

Starscream sat up just enough to glare at him.

“I am not entering a courtship with that brute.”

“Not right now, maybe, but never say never.” The purple seeker said with a cocky grin.

“I’m going to throw something at you. Thundercracker, do you have anything I can use to maim him with?”

Skywarp laughed while Thundercracker simply shook his head, sighing.

“No throwing things or maiming anyone.”

Starscream huffed and rolled his optics.

“You never let me have fun.” Starscream grumbled. “But fine. I’ll talk to Megatron before the next battle. I’ll...figure something out.”

The red seeker paused for a moment before sitting up fully and swinging his legs over the side of the berth, seemingly motivated all of the sudden.

“No, I’ll talk to him _ now. _ What am I sitting here being scared over? I have the power in this.” He rambled, standing. “I’ll simply go to his quarters and demand we talk about a solution to these... _ pesky _ feelings.”

“You go do that, Screamer.” Skywarp chimed in.

Starscream nodded, trying to keep himself motivated to tackle this problem head on.

“I will.” He said, and made for the door.

Skywarp smirked as he watched his trine leader leave. He nudged Thundercracker once the door closed and Starscream had officially set off to make his confession.

“He’s cute when he’s got a crush.”

“He’s insufferable, I think you mean.” Thundercracker sighed, laying down next to Skywarp. The purple seeker wasted no time shifting to half lay on top of Thundercracker.

“Yeah, that too. Also, I wanna say, I totally called it.”

“Called what?” Thundercracker asked, raising an optic ridge.

“This whole _ ‘I need to kill Megatron and lead the Decepticons!’ _ thing he’s been doing for the past couple million years has been him trying to flirt.” Skywarp said with a laugh. “He acts like he hates the idea of being with Megatron but c’monnn, they totally cuddle in their spare time.”

“You know, Starscream is just emotionally constipated enough that you might be right about that.” Thundercracker admitted with a small sigh, moving to wrap his arms around the other seeker and hold him close. “Hopefully he lets himself have something good for once.”

“I mean, he’s got three little reasons now. I think we might be looking at a turning point for him. A good one! For once!”

“I hope you’re right about that, Warp.”

Starscream stood outside of Megatron’s quarters, definitely not hesitating to knock. He was just...considering what to say, that’s all. Yeah, that’s the story he’ll stick by. He was still going to knock and talk to Megatron about possibly starting something more serious. Something that would make them closer than second in command and Decepticon leader. Just something to lay out the path to a possible serious relationship if things went well.

He just needed to figure out the best way to say that. And then, he just needed to...knock.

Which he definitely would have had the door not opened on its own.

Starscream jumped when the door slid open, revealing Megatron giving him an amused look.

“You’ve been standing out here for ten minutes.” Megatron said.

“Y-You knew!?”

“Soundwave monitors the hallway.” The warlord said, shrugging. “He alerted me to your presence.”

Starscream rolled his eyes.

“If Soundwave keeps such a close eye on you, perhaps you should consider having sparklings with him instead.” He said blandly, stepping inside Megatron’s room like he owned the place. His words weren’t laced with any real jealousy, and luckily Megatron could tell as much.

“Soundwave has enough to look after with his cassettes.” Megatron said, letting the door slip closed as he turned to face Starscream. “Besides, I find seekers much more fascinating.”

“Oh?” Starscream asked with a smirk. “I do hope you aren’t generalizing, Megatron.  _ Some _ of us have much more to offer than others.”

“So I’ve learned.” Megatron murmured affectionately, taking the few steps needed to close the distance between him and Starscream. He, somewhat hesitantly, raised a hand to caress the side of Starscream’s face. Starscream allowed him to do so, eyes slipping shut for just a moment as he relaxed. “So did you figure out what you wanted to say while you were out there?”

Starscream huffed and slapped Megatron’s hand away, looking up at him and glaring half heartedly.

“Yes, I did. It’s actually quite important, I’ll have you know.”

“That so?”

“Yes.” The seeker insisted, placing his hands on his hips. “I was thinking about how we’ve been...coexisting, lately.”

Megatron nodded.

“That’s one way to put it.”

“Shut it, dolt.” Starscream said, pulling a displeased face. “I’ve thought about it and, for convenience and the sake of the sparklings, it may not be a bad idea to consider deepening our relationship. Just a tad.”

Megatron stared at him for a moment, studying his face as if he were looking for signs of dishonesty or that this was a trap. He let out a breath he didn’t fully realize he’d been holding.

“Clarify.” He said, though it sounded like an order.

Luckily, it was one order Starscream didn’t want to disobey.

“You told me once you could care about me. All I’m saying is that maybe I could care about you as well. I’m not opposed to trying to.”

“Alright.”

_ “Alright? _ That’s all you have to say?” Starscream asked, blinking in surprise.

Megatron smiled.  _ Actually smiled, _ and took Starscream’s hand in his own.

“Oh no, seeker, there is much more I could say to that.” Megatron said, “But why stand here and tell you when I could show you just how much joy your words bring me?”

Starscream anticipated the kiss, but he did not anticipate the emotions that the kiss brought to the surface. He especially didn’t expect those emotions being overly positive.

He let himself experience those emotions and pulled Megatron closer. It felt good, somehow better than the last time they’d kissed when his spark had been  _ begging  _ for the contact. There was less stress, less secrets between them. It felt good to be able to freely embrace the moment without the fear of Megatron finding something out looming over Starscream.

Starscream was pulled from his thoughts when he felt Megatron’s glossa slip into his mouth. He couldn’t keep himself from letting out a small humm of pleasure if he’d tried. One of Megatron’s hands had begun gently massaging one of his wings and the feeling made Starscream lightheaded in all the right ways, but this wasn’t exactly what he came here to do tonight.

He gently and somewhat reluctantly pulled away from Megatron, looking up at him with hazy optics.

“You always have filth on your mind.” Starscream mumbled, trying to tease.

“Right, because it was me that initiated this aspect of our relationship in the first place.”

Starscream could feel himself blush at that.

“That was so long ago. You must not be remembering it correctly, that’s all.”

“Hmm, yes, that must be it.” Megatron said with a small smirk. “Do you wish to stay the night?”

“I’m...not opposed. But I don’t want to push things between us,  _ this _ part of... _ whateve _ r we have is still new.” 

“Of course. I have a busy morning ahead of me anyways, and as much as I’d like to spend the night getting you well acquainted with this new part of our relationship, I would like to make sure I’m well rested enough to focus on the battle tomorrow.”

“I thought the attack wasn’t for a few more days?”

“I’ve moved it to tomorrow. Soundwave acquired new information that led me to believe it was better to attack sooner rather than later.”

Starscream nodded, humming as he thought.

“It really is a shame I won’t be there. I do miss shooting at those worthless Autobots.”

Megatron let out a small laugh and moved to lead Starscream to his oversized berth for the evening. Starscream wasted no time in hogging most of the space, stretching out and letting his wings fan out as he relaxed. Megatron didn’t mind, not needing much space to get comfortable anyways.

“You’ll have to hit Prime twice as hard, for me.” Starscream said, yawning as he got himself situated.

“Of course.”

“Maybe if you win, I’ll reward you.” The seeker said, giving Megatron a smirk.

“I suppose I’ll have to win then,” Megatron said, voice oozing interest.

Starscream shifted, moving to lay on his side so he could move closer and look Megatron in the face. He could see how relaxed the warlord was, how much he was trusting Starscream in the moment. It felt...good. Starscream wanted to let himself feel more of this good feeling. He hummed, leaning in and giving Megatron a chaste kiss before pulling back.

“Make me proud, tomorrow. Make me proud to call you the sire of my sparklings.”

Megatron’s eyes darkened with lust. He pulled Starscream in for one, final kiss. Deep and passionate, full of longing and the promise for something _ more.  _ When he pulled away, a dangerous smile played at his lips.

“Consider it done.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was sitting half finished for six months and then I said "I'll have it ready by Christmas, no worries." And then I didn't. Happy late holidays guys, this fic isn't dead till I say it is. Expect more of this come the new year and watch out for more fics set in this AU world. :)

**Author's Note:**

> Don't look at me this is the most self indulgent thing I've ever written...  
> Also expect a huge mash up of canon cuz I like too many characters and want them to be involved one way or another.


End file.
